Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) : Survey and Study
FLOSS FINAL REPORT (http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/index.htm)
International Institute of Infonomics University of Maastricht, The Netherlands Berlecon Research GmbH Berlin, Germany
June 2002
Final Report * Part 0: Executive Summary Overview of the FLOSS project * Part I: Use of Open Source Software in Firms and Public Institutions * Part II: Firms Open Source Activities: Motivations and Policy Implications * Part II B: Open Source Software in the Public Sector: Policy within the European Union * Part III: Basics of Open Source Software Markets and Business Models * Part IV: Survey of Developers * Part V: Source Code Survey * Raw data from Source Code Survey
Overview of the FLOSS project
This project remedies the lack of information on Free/Libre/Open Source Software (1) starting at the very beginning: by conducting surveys to generate a unique base of primary data on Free/Open Source Software usage and development; identifying indicators to measure value creation and dissemination in the OS/FS arena; identifying business models based on these indicators; identifying the impact of and recommending changes in government policy and regulatory environments with regards to OS/FS; finally, the development of a base for extending these to the broader economic measurement of non-monetary and trans-monetary activity in the information society, beyond the domain of OS/FS.
The specific features of this project are:
1. The collation of a base of hard data (until now no such data exist) on the importance and role of OS/F software in today s economies and an impact assessment for policy and decision-making.
2. The development of indicators for the measurement of value creation within the OS/F software communities, especially in order to identify the distribution patterns of contribution within OS/F software communities and projects.
3. The measurement of contributions and identification of dependence on such contributions as are provided by user organisations OS/F software, including government/international institutions, on the developer community and on project development at large.
4. The evaluation and identification of business models and best practices in the OS/F software community, especially the transition to and from commercial software operations.
(1) Throughout this report and project documents the terms Free Software and Open Source Software are used interchangeably, except where a specific distinction between the terms is explicitly made.
This page is part of the FLOSS study (http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/).
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