2 new papers on opensource.mit.edu

Dear All,

Here are two new papers on our website.  Many thanks to the authors for 
their submissions.

Here are the papers:

Paper 1
Author:
Meyer, Peter
Title:
Episodes of Collective Invention
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/meyer.pdf
Abstract:
The process of developing technology through open discussion has been 
called collective invention. Open source software projects have this 
form. This paper documents two earlier episodes of collective invention 
and proposes a general model based on search theory. One episode was the 
development of mass production steel in the U.S. (1866-1885), and the 
second with early personal computers (1975-1985). Technical people 
openly discussed and shared these developing technologies between firms. 
Collective invention episodes begin with an invention or a change in 
legal restrictions. Hobbyists and startup firms experiment with 
practical methods of production and share their results through a social 
network whose members gradually form a new industry.

Paper 2
Authors:
Gabriel, Richard P & Ron Goldman
Title:
Open Source: Beyond the Fairytales
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/gabrielgoldman.pdf

Abstract
Open source is a software development model that to many is synonymous 
with a free and free-wheeling operating system juggernaut destined to 
upend current computer markets. IBM is embracing Linux to unify its 
hardware product line, and Microsoft is screaming that open source is 
anti-American and destructive of intellectual property. Analysts and 
executive have been gathering around open source to find out what it’s 
all about, and people like Eric Raymond and Linus Torvalds once 
indistinguishable from society’s stereotype of the elfin programmers 
working in the dark on the software that powers the digital age have 
become heroes, spokesmen, and leaders in the new age of 
anti-monopolistic software. But is this narrow view adequate? Open 
source, for corporations, has more to do with a particular business 
strategy than it does with any specific technology. In fact, technology 
is just another piece of the puzzle for a successful technology company 
certainly it’s a necessary piece, but often it’s not the distinguishing 
piece.
-- 
===============================================
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan School of Management
&
The Boston Consulting Group, Strategy Practice Initiative
e-mail: karim.lakhani-+FP/[email protected] | [email protected]
voice:  617-851-1224
fax:    617-344-0403
http://spoudaiospaizen.net/
http://opensource.mit.edu | http://freesoftware.mit.edu
http://userinnovation.mit.edu