Giriş için: existing theory and research
Traditional software development follows a familiar pattern. A company writes a program and then tries to sell it. The program’s “source code” is a trade secret, just like an auto manufacturer’s blueprints for its cars.
By contrast — as the name suggests — the source code in an oss project is available to anyone who wants it. The software is developed and maintained by a community of volunteers. Essentially, anyone is free to take the results of this work and modify it, extend its capabilities, or incorporate it into their own projects (usually, but not always, on condition that they keep their own contributions “open” in a similar way).2 It is a counterintuitive way to act in the highly competitive world of computing and information technology. And yet, although casual users are often unaware of it, many essential features of the Internet — such as sending email and serving web pages — are more often than not controlled by software created through oss projects. Besides this “backstage” work, oss projects like the gnu/Linux operating system and, more recently, Apple’s use of oss components in their operating system have become increasingly prominent.

Large system integrators, or solution providers, stand to gain the most from open source software because they increase profits through direct cost savings and the ability to reach more customers through improved pricing flexibility. Every dollar a system integrator saves on license costs paid to a software firm is a dollar gained that the customer might spend on services.

Different firms will have different costs depending on their share of contributions to the open source project. However, with increasing project share, the company can charge higher prices because customers are likely to receive better service. The basic relationship remains unaffected: Price is markup over cost and varies depending on cost.
Dirk Riehle. "The Economic Motivation of Open Source Software: Stakeholder Perspectives." IEEE Computer, vol. 40, no. 4 (April 2007). Page 25-32.
The paper is available as a PDF file as well as online.
Copyright (©) 2007 IEEE. All rights reserved. http://dirkriehle.com/computer-science/research/2007/computer-2007.html -------------------------------------------------

This cooperation is not simple and to me looks much like scientific cooperation
Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov
Problems of Open Source Software
2000
------------------------------------------------- http://www.softpanorama.org/OSS/open_source.shtml#2000 ------------------------------------------------- http://www.joelwest.org/Papers/WestOMahony2008-WP.pdf From a theoretical point of view, the oss approach does not fit with standard models of software development
(Sandred 2001, Vixie 1999) or formal organization more generally (Neff and Stark 2002).
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1-We suggest that successful oss projects will tend to have a strong hierarchical component, at least in the ways they manage the relations between lead (and core) developers and other contributors.

2-Despite the public image of hackers, the projects that matter are (more often than not) run by professionals and not amateurs.

The Ecology of Open-Source Software Development
Kieran Healy_
Alan Schussman
University of Arizona
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January 14, 2003
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------------------------------------------------- http://www.kieranhealy.org/files/drafts/oss-activity.pdf

It is reasonable to ask a question: why do open source software projects (OSS projects) receive constant attention of economists? The answer is simple: at first sight it seems that all the participants of OSS projects spend their valuable time and brain resources on doing work, which does not give them any payoff at all. This behavior looks paradoxical and absolutely irrational. However OSS movement is getting bigger and has already shown its ability to develop highly complicated software products, which are capable to compete with traditionally made software. This is a major challenge to economists who are used to think in terms of rationality.

Economics of Open Source: A Brief Literature Overview
Alexander Vostroknutov*
Department of Economics University College London Gower Street London, WC1E 6BT UK a.vostroknutov@ucl.ac.uk
February 2002

http://www.vostroknutov.com/pdfs/ossoverview00.pdf
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