Introduction: Open Source Software and the Digital Commons
Benjamin J. Birkinbine
Chapter from the book: Birkinbine, B. 2020. Incorporating the Digital Commons: Corporate Involvement in Free and Open Source Software.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Birkinbine, B. 2020. Incorporating the Digital Commons: Corporate Involvement in Free and Open Source Software.
This introductory chapter provides conceptual grounding for understanding the relationship between free (libre) and open source software (FLOSS) communities and capitalist firms. I begin by contextualizing FLOSS within the broader history of software development. I discuss the emergence of FLOSS and the unique features of its development model as well as the underlying ethos that guided the free software movement. Next, I position FLOSS as a digital commons and distinguish between different approaches for understanding the commons. The chapter also includes notes on methodology as well as an overview of the remaining chapters.
Birkinbine, B. 2020. Introduction: Open Source Software and the Digital Commons. In: Birkinbine, B, Incorporating the Digital Commons. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book39.a
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Published on Feb. 26, 2020