Open Source Software Development

Robert L. Greenberg, Undergraduate Thesis, Brandeis University

7/18/2008
(Original Publish Date: 5/9/2003)

Open Source Software (OSS) Development has come of age. Weak intellectual property protection has allowed for the development of high quality software. Herein I hope to explain this process through economic theory. I examine the current literature available on the topic, develop cases looking at the state of various OSS projects and firms in their reaction to Open Source as a model of software development, and examine historical instances of free knowledge trading. Through this examination I hope to answer the ultimate question of “How does Open Source Software Development work in the context of current economic theory?”