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Can Open Source projects succeed when the producers are not the users ? Lessons from the data processing field

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  • Nicolas Jullien

    (LUSSI - Département Logique des Usages, Sciences sociales et Sciences de l'Information - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany - Télécom Bretagne - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris])

  • Karine Roudaut

Abstract

Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) proposes an original way to solve the incentive dilemma for the production of information goods, based on von ippel's user-as-innovator principle (1988): as users benefit from innovation, they have incentive to produce it, and as they can expect cumulative innovation on their own proposition, they have incentive to share it. But what is the incentive for producers when they are not users? We discuss this question via a quantitative study of FLOSS projects in "algorithm-based industries". We find that in that case producers hardly participate in such projects.
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Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Jullien & Karine Roudaut, 2012. "Can Open Source projects succeed when the producers are not the users ? Lessons from the data processing field," Post-Print hal-01682500, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01682500
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-01682500v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicolas Jullien & Klaas-Jan Stol & James D Herbsleb, 2019. "A Preliminary Theory for Open Source Ecosystem Micro-economics," Post-Print hal-02127185, HAL.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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