New book, 2 papers + thesis on opensource.mit.edu|freesoftware.mit.edu

Hello All,

We have received one book, two papers and a thesis as contributions to 
our community site this month.  Many thanks to all the authors that have 
made their submissions.

See you all soon!

Karim



Book

Author
von Hippel, Eric

Title:
Democratizing Innovation (MIT Press, 2005)
http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ.htm

Overview:
Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by 
improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can 
develop their own new products and services. These innovating 
users--both individuals and firms--often freely share their innovations 
with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich 
intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks 
closely at this emerging user-centered innovation system. He explains 
why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and 
services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their 
innovations freely for the use of all. The trend toward democratized 
innovation can be seen in software and information products--most 
notably in the free and open-source software movement--but also in 
physical products. He shows that product and service development is 
concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and 
whose innovations are often commercially attractive. Von Hippel argues 
that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and 
systematically seek out innovations developed by users. User innovation 
has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that 
government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be 
realigned to eliminate biases against it. An electronic version of this 
book is available under a Creative Commons license.
	

Paper 1

Authors
Boettiger, Sara & Dan L. Burk

Title:
Open Source Patenting
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=645182
	
Abstract:
The open source and free software movements have used self-perpetuating 
copyright licenses to maintain open access to publicly distributed 
software. This model of licensing has now migrated to the field of 
biotechnology, where patents rather than copyrights dominate proprietary 
rights. Consequently, a model for open source patenting or free 
biotechnology presents a constellation of legal issues not typically 
found in previous open source licensing. This paper discusses several of 
these issues, including the nature of the rights transferred, the 
activities that may trigger the terms of the license, and the legal 
prohibitions on certain forms of licensing.

Paper 2

Author:
Lin, Yuwei

Title	
Hybrid Innovation - How Does the Collaboration Between the FLOSS 
Community and Corporations Happen?
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lin4_hybrid.pdf

Abstract
Unlike innovation based on a strong professional culture involving close 
collaboration between professionals in academia and/or corporations, the 
current Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development entails a 
global knowledge network, which consists of 1) a heterogeneous community 
of individuals and organisations who do not necessarily have 
professional backgrounds in computer science but competent skills to 
understand programming and working in a public domain; 2) corporations. 
This paper highlights the importance of the hybrid form of developing 
and implementing software, and also identifies several key factors 
shaping the collaboration between OSS firms and the community.


Undergraduate Thesis
Author
Greenberg, Robert
	
Title:
Open Source Software Development
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/greenberg.pdf

Abstract:
This paper examines applies basic economic theory to Open Source 
Software Development. Through examination of rational actor behavior I 
show why economically motivated individuals and firms choose to develop 
code that to be given away freely. It also examines the various Open 
Source licenses, including the two most common, the Free Software 
Foundation’s General Public License (GPL) and Berkeley Software 
Distribution (BSD) License. Included are case studies to illustrate the 
workings of Open Source Software projects and how profit seeking firms 
have attached themselves to them. These case studies include the Apache 
Web Server, Mozilla, IBM, Microsoft’s Shared Source Initiative, and Red 
Hat. The associated business plans are also discussed. An executive 
summary precedes the paper and a glossary is attached to the end.
-- 
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group
Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224
http://spoudaiospaizen.net
http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu