Internet Success

The use of open-source software (OSS)--readable software source code that
can be copied, modified, and distributed freely--has expanded dramatically in recent
years. The number of OSS projects hosted on SourceForge.net (the largest hosting Web
site for OSS), for example, grew from just over 100,000 in 2006 to more than 250,000
at the beginning of 2011. But why are some projects successful--that is, able to
produce usable software and sustain ongoing development over time--while others are
abandoned? In this book, the product of the first large-scale empirical study to
look at social, technical, and institutional aspects of OSS, Charles Schweik and
Robert English examine factors that lead to success in OSS projects and work toward
a better understanding of Internet-based collaboration. Drawing on literature from
many disciplines and using a theoretical framework developed for the study of
environmental commons, Schweik and English examine stages of OSS development,
presenting multivariate statistical models of success and abandonment. Schweik and
English argue that analyzing the conditions of OSS successes may also inform
Internet collaborations in fields beyond software engineering, particularly those
that aim to solve complex technical, social, and political problems.