Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study

Rishab Ghosh, International Institute of Infonomics, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, Ruediger Glott, International Institute of Infonomics, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, Bernhard Krieger, International Institute of Infonomics, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, and Gregorio Robles, International Institute of Infonomics, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

11/12/2008
(Original Publish Date: 6/1/2002)

Although Open Source and Free Software are no new phenomenon, they have shown a considerable increase of their importance just in recent years. However, many aspects of this domain still appear unknown or even strange. Economic exchange relations, as they occur within the community of OS/FS developers as well as in the traditional parts of capitalist economies, are usually based on the fundamental principles of private property and monetary payments. However, these principles seem not to be applicable to OS/FS, and still this domains functions very well and gains more and more importance in the leading software markets.