開放原始碼作為商業策略-Intel案例 / ABSTRACT OPEN SOURCE as BUSINESS STRATEGY: A CASE STUDY - Intel Corporation (By Tung Yuk Kwok，郭東旭) Researchers of Open source have often suggested that users’ utopia beliefs about open source are the motivation to develop the open source community. However, research which has empirically documented the link between open source and the strategy in firms is scant. Therefore, the aim of this article attempts to explore how open source projects and the use of strategy in Intel are related. This research involved a survey, comprised of more than twenty open source projects within Intel and face to face interview with six persons working in the business department related with open source activity. The factors from the literature are identified and integrated to build the framework to test the business strategy. The qualitative analysis of the survey was conducted through narrative method in order to indicate the direction and relationship between the open source development and business strategy in Intel. Results of this study showed that the investment on open source in terms of man-power and capital can help Intel win new market segment and leverage the advantage of the scale. The result is consistent with the mission of Intel is to drive Intel x86 platform everywhere and open source is the enabler to meet the target. To conclude, this study may be of importance in explaining the dynamic relationship between open source planning and strategy use in firms, as well as in providing the firms in Taiwan with a better understanding of how to locate the resource on open source projects to meet the business goals.

開放原始碼軟體（Open Source Software），是由一群相信電腦軟體世界應以開放為主流的軟體創作者所提倡，他們認為電腦軟體之創造、開發、修正、改寫與加值等行為，不應受限於原始碼不開放的困擾及智慧財產權保護過度的法律障礙，而應藉由公開程式原始碼的方式，供其他程式設計者對軟體加以改進，以提升其效能。由於此種軟體開發模式具備取得成本低、穩定與安全性、彈性與自主權、堅強後援等優勢，這些優勢已逐漸被企業界所發覺，趨使其開始採用開放原始碼軟體的步伐，同時也創造了龐大的潛在商機。例如國際知名業者IBM、Intel等紛紛投入開放原始碼軟體相關產品的推廣與銷售，甚至連政府單位，包括歐盟、美國、中國、日本、韓國等各國政府，也大力推動使用開放原始碼軟體。在此風潮之下，我國政府也制定了一系列發展開放原始碼軟體的政策及方向。 如果能夠適當的運用開放原始碼軟體，確實是可以為企業或組織節省大量成本，創造龐大的潛在商機。至於如何將潛在商機轉換為企業的實質利潤，有此即有賴商業模式的建立。 然而，就在開放原始碼逐漸形成趨勢之際，其發展卻也面臨一些新興的法律議題挑戰。相較於專屬軟體在程式開發及授權合約中通常會提供不侵犯他人智慧財產權的保障措施，開放原始碼軟體由於係以社群開發及免費授權的方式發展，在此方面的保障可能較不周全，而SCO與IBM及Novell之間錯綜複雜的智慧財產侵權糾紛，更突顯此類問題的重要與複雜。 除了智慧財產權方面的法律風險外，開放原始碼所依據的授權契約之解釋、執行、契約效力也是一個很大的問題。截至目前為止，經OSI（Open Source Initiative）所認可的開放原始碼授權契約已達58種之多，未來還會持續增加。由於授權契約種類繁多，且各契約之規定及限制不同，也造成開放原始碼擴展上的阻力。 有鑑於此，本論文主要探討的重點包括開放原始碼軟體可採行之商業模式，尤其是有意利用開放原始碼軟體為營收模式的企業應如何評估本身的核心能力及優勢所在，依情況採取適合自己的模式；另一重點則是探討開放原始碼所涉及之法律問題，包括維持開放原始碼運作制度的授權契約，並分析各類授權契約在使用上可能面臨到的風險與問題。除此之外，也將分析開放原始碼軟體可能面臨的智慧財產相關爭議，包括軟體專利的問題、著作權的問題、營業秘密的問題等。 開放原始碼軟體對於台灣是機會，也是挑戰。如果能夠妥善利用開放原始碼軟體的優點，將能為台灣的資訊產業帶來跳躍式的成長契機。 / Open Source Software, which is promoted by a group of software programmers who believe that computer software should open to the public, and the creation, development, modifying, value-added shouldn’t be bothered by the over-protection of intellectual property rights. By disclosing the source code, other programmers can improve the efficacy of the software. With the advantages of low cost, high security, high stability, plus the minimum control by the right holders, the open source software movement has gained major industry players’ support. For example, IBM, Intel have all expressed their support for the open source movement and also developed relevant products using open source software. In addition to industry, many countries, such as European countries, US, Japan, China, Korea, also show their strong support for the open source movement. Under such trend, Taiwanese government also takes positive measures to promote the development of open source industry’s development and application in Taiwan. It indeed can save a large amount of cost and create huge profit if making use of open source software properly. How to transfer the potential business opportunity to substantial revenue depends on the establishment of business models. Nevertheless, while open source movement is getting momentum, it also faces renewed legal challenges. Compared to propriety software, which usually has non-infringement of intellectual property right clauses, open source software can’t provide this kind of guarantee. This issue was especially noticeable when SCO sued IBM for 5 billions damages in 2003. In addition to the legal risks, the most stringent challenge for the open source movement is its license structure. Until May, 2006, there are 58 open source license agreements have being certified by Open Source Initiatives (OSI), the open source software’s alliance. The problem, however, is that every open source license agreement has different terms and conditions. With so many different license agreements and such uncertain legal effects of those agreements, it erected a barrier for the wide-spread application of open source software. As a result, this thesis would like to conduct a thorough research on open source software from different dimensions. One part is about the business models which can be adopted by the open source software, and this part will especially focus on how the industry players evaluate their own core abilities and advantages to adopt suitable business models. The other emphasis is on the legal issues of open source software, including the license agreements, the legal risks and intellectual property problems. Open source software is a chance and also a challenge for Taiwan. If we can make good use of the advantages of open source software, it will definitely bring immense progress for the IT industry of our country.

摘要 開放原始碼軟體的出現，對軟體產業帶來巨大的衝擊。然而，針對開放原始碼軟體的研究，經常將開放原始碼軟體視為「沒有產權」的軟體，或是被更進一步提高到意識型態之爭，視為是爭取自由的「聖戰」。 本研究的成果指明，開放原始碼軟體之所以出現與茁壯，是回應軟體市場對個人化與差異化需求越來越高的有效方式。產品差異化的程度越高，對顧客知識的依賴程度越高，而開放原始碼軟體社群則是全然靠顧客的知識貢獻來開發軟體的一種組織形式。 開放原始碼授權協議作為一種產權制度，並非「沒有產權」或是「反對產權」，組織而是讓軟體開發社群成員的專質性知識與產權配置得以效率結合的制度發明。開放原始碼授權協議以著作權為基礎的制度安排，讓軟體開發者能夠自主地運用軟體原始碼、擴大社群成員間的知識共享、以及排除個人或商業公司在其間從事投機行為的可能性。 本研究對組織創新的三權假說於社群組織的運用，進行了初步的檢驗；此外，對於軟體產業該如何妥善運用顧客力量從事產品創新也提出了一些建議。 / Abstract The emergence of the open source software in the 1990s has made a huge impact on the software industry. However, the overall research on the open source software often regards it as “software without property right,” or even sees it a “holy war” fighting for freedom by heightening the ideological conflicts between liberalism and capitalism. The outcome of this research indicates that the initiation and development of the open source software serves as the effective response for the demanding software market of individualization and differentiation. The more the software product differentiates, the more the users’ knowledge has to be replied upon. The open source software community is a form of organization which entirely lives on the intellectual contribution of its customers. The licensing of the open source software as a system of property right does not mean that it has no property right or it is against property right; rather, it is an invention of system which allows the efficient combination of the community software developers and the distribution of property right. The licensing of the open source software based on the intellectual property right permits the software developers making use of the open source independently, expanding the communal share of knowledge among community members, and eliminating the possibilities of individuals and commercial companies who try to speculate in it. This study has made preliminary examinations on the application of the “hypothesis of the three powers” of the organizational innovation on communities and provides software industry with suggestions for how to make proper use of the power of customers.

開放原始碼軟體平台與互補性資產建構—以Google與 Intel 為例 / Open source software is Open Innovation only if it has a business model driving it (West and Gallagher 2006). Open Innovation is the paradigm describing the scenario in which firms use a broad range of external sources for innovation and seek a broad range of commercialization alternatives for internal innovation (Chesbrough 2003). The Platform Leader builds the platform and concentrates its efforts on promoting and directing innovation of complementary products in favor of its R&D direction (Cusumano and Gawer 2002). The author has chosen leaders in two distinctive industry sectors— Google, the leader in search engine industry, and Intel, the leader in the microprocessor business for the personal computer industry—as the case study companies for this research. Both cases fit the definition of open innovation since both Google and Intel have specific business models for their open source software platforms. This research explores how industry leaders exploit open source software platforms to realize their specific strategic intents. The research problems are: (1) how companies can incorporate external creativity and innovation to maintain their own innovative momentum; (2) what are the key factors and strategies for building a successful open source software platform and its ecosystem; (3) how can a company use an open source software platform as part of its strategy to enter new markets and promote development of complementary assets to build its competitive advantages. The author proposes the following framework to analyze how leading firms design open source platform strategies: (1) analyze the firm’s core competencies; (2) analyze the firm’s strategic intent for their open source software platform; (3) analyze the firm’s strategies for designing the architecture of their open source software platform; (4) analyze the firm’s strategies for designing the ecosystem around the platform. Based on the analysis of the two comparative cases, the author has been convinced of the following propositions: 1. Firms can use open source software platform to incorporate external creativity and innovations that promote the development of complementary assets and to build or at least maintain their competitive advantage against competitors. 2. Instead of a purely open or purely proprietary platform strategy, platform owners can utilize a hybrid strategy, which combines the advantages of open source and closed source to retain control and differentiation. 3. As opposed to a company-owned open source software platform, a community-owned open source software platform will attract more communities’ involvements and stimulate more innovation. 4. When developing complementary assets, firms should adopt an open innovation approach to incorporate external creativity and innovations; however, when building their core competencies, firms should adopt a more closed innovation approach to maintain their distinctive competitive advantages. 5. One of the key determining factors of a successful open source platform strategy is the platform owner’s ability to create value and enable every partner within the ecosystem to share some portion of it.

過去的行動通訊產業價值鏈一直是由運營商業者所主導，運營商業者以透過建立專屬開發平台的方式，逐漸形成以其為核心的封閉花園（Walled Garden）生態體系，並控制價值鏈中整體利潤的分配，而產業中包括手機製造商、內容供應商及軟體開發商等其他業者皆只能遵循其所制定之遊戲規則。 然而，隨著應用與內容、終端裝置、平台至行動網路等各種產業之開放趨勢驅使之下，在3G時代之後的行動上網價值鏈中，能夠成功匯集終端用戶與開發者的廠商，才有資格成為價值鏈的新興主導者，而以往運營商業者透過封閉式平台掌握產業價值鏈主導權的方式，更開始面臨來自各方業者的挑戰。 2007年11月由Google及開放式手機聯盟（OHA）所推出的Android開放式平台，更因此造成行動通訊產業生態環境產生重大的改變。從Google 把代表著網際網路自由與開放特性的Android平台及相關配套策略推入行動通訊產業之後，即吸引眾多廠商加入開發，產業中廠商之間的競合關係從此將更為複雜，運營商業者更是首當其衝面臨失去主導權的地位，甚至將淪為僅提供行動網路傳輸數據資料的笨重水管（dumb pipe）角色；然而，由Android所形成的產業開放生態環境一方面亦意味著許多新機會的產生，對於長期處於產業壟斷地位的運營商業者而言，如何因應Android平台並將之轉化為轉型的動力，將是其未來發展所面臨的最大挑戰課題。 本研究認為，運營商業者應以本身擁有的優勢（行動網路、終端用戶資訊、金流機制等）為基礎，並依各自發展利基與市場定位考量選擇利用Android平台發展不同之因應策略，可大致分為建立自有Android-based終端裝置、與Android相容的自有應用服務平台（service platform）以及與Android相容的自有作業系統等。而本研究藉由兩運營商業者之個案研究後發現，運營商業者建立與Android相容的自有應用服務平台及作業系統應為較佳之發展策略，除較能發揮本身的優勢之外，並得以掌握終端用戶使用體驗及開發社群，進而擴大用戶基礎，建立以運營商業者為核心的開放式生態系。 / In the past, mobile operators were predominant in the value chain of mobile communication industry. They created a so-called “Walled Garden” ecosystem in the industry through the development of proprietary platforms and controlled the overall allocation of profits in the value chain. Other players in the industry, including handset manufacturers, content providers and software developers had to comply with the rules set by the mobile operators. However, with the advent of open in applications and contents, user devices, platforms to mobile networks, in the wake of 3G mobile internet value chains, the vendors which are capable of converging end-users and developers, are able to lead the value chain. In the meanwhile, operators who controlled the industry value chain through closed platforms would begin to face challenges from vendors everywhere. In November of 2007, Google and Open Handset Alliance (OHA) introduced Android open platform, which exerted enormous influences in the ecosystem of mobile communication industry. When Google put Android, which stood for freedom and openness of the Internet, and other accompanying strategies into the industry, it attracted many vendors to participate in the development of Android platform. In the same time, collaborations among vendors in the industry became more complicated, and mobile operators were hit the hardest by losing the leader’s role or even relegated to the role of “Dump Pipe”, which only providing their mobile network for data traffic. However, the open industrial circumstances established by Android also created new opportunities, and in the future how mobile operators seize these opportunities and utilize Android platform would be the major challenge for themselves. In this study, the author argued that mobile operators must set their own advantages (including mobile networks, informations of end-users, money flow…etc.) as a foundation to develop their own niche and market positioning. The response strategies stemming from the foundation can be categorized into establishing Android-based devices, Android-based service platforms and Android-based operating systems. And through conducting case studies on two mobile operators, this study found out that to establish Android-based service platoforms and Android-based operating systems would be more suitable for mobile operators to utilize their advantages. In addition, they are able to control the end-user experiences and developer’s communities by these two approaches to enlarge their user base and build open ecosystems that are centered on mobile operators.

逐漸崛起的網際網路經濟在科技及商業環境的快速變化中促使軟體開發程序漸漸進化成因應需求而調整式的程序，敏捷開發程序的演化在過去十幾年已幫助許多網際網路商業設立而且使其可以保持競爭力。 採用敏捷開發程序的網際網路商業組織較具有彈性，可以在任何軟體開發的階段中對於針對需求的改變而改變軟體的開發。主要加快軟體完成的因素是保持一個輕量級並有密切及通暢溝通的團隊。快速的軟體開發週期以及原形的開發使得初步可行性研究較簡單，也因此可以幫助需求單位提早測試軟體並提早提供回饋。 開放原始碼技術能幫助敏捷組織創新。知識轉移與技術管理在沒有很多文件紀錄的敏捷軟體開發環境中也扮演非常重要的角色。 處於隨時因應需求而敏捷調整步調成為組織的核心競爭力。組織的文化與價值需要根據組織要求的敏捷特性來調整。在事者應當用社會控制體系來管理其員工，而非用傳統式的正式控制體系。 AutoTradeCenter成功的採用敏捷方法而成為一個敏捷的組織。它採用開放原始碼技術並強調創新管理。也建立組織的文化與價值來支持其「敏捷開發系統」的建立。該公司的高度敏捷度在2000年代初期的不景氣時候仍讓其保持競爭力。 本研究建議任何新成立的網際網路商業公司可以嚐試使用AutoTradeCenter所採用的敏捷開發方式來建立組織的競爭力。 / The fast change technology and business environment from the emerging Internet economy have resulted in the evolution of the software development process into an adaptive process. This evolution of the agile software development process has helped numerous new Internet businesses to enter the field and to stay competitive over the past decades. Internet businesses, which adopted the agile software development methodology, are able to remain flexible and address changes in any stage of software development process. A lightweight team with close and good communications is the key ingredient to speedily deliver software products. Quick cycles and prototypes make feasibility studies easier and allow business people to test and provide feedback thereby allowing creation of the innovative products that truly address the market requirements. Open source technology has helped agile organizations to innovate and materialize the innovation. Knowledge transfer and technology management play important roles in an agile software development environment without a need for excess documentations. Organizations stay adaptive with agility as their core competence. The organizational values and culture need to be shaped accordingly to support the agile spirit across organizations. Incumbents should motivate the members using social control system rather than the formal control system. AutoTradeCenter, a case study used in this research, successfully formed an agile organization by adopting the agile methodology, utilizing and managing the open source technology, and creating an adaptive culture and value. The agility helped the company staying competitive during the economic downturn in early 2000. This research suggested that any Internet startup can adopt the same path that AutoTradeCenter chose to create its competitive advantages. Keywords: Agile Software Development, Open Source Technology, Knowledge Management, Organizational Culture, Core Competence, Competitive Advantage, Internet Business Model, AutoTradeCenter

開放原始碼軟體(Open Source Software；OSS)或稱自由軟體(free software)近年來備受矚目，許多政府、企業、機構團體認為相較於專屬軟體(proprietary software)，開放原始碼軟體的成本低廉、安全性高，因而支持開放原始碼軟體，一些國際知名大廠也投入開發相關產品以支援開放原始碼軟體；然而，深入分析開放原始碼軟體與專屬軟體在價格、穩定性及功能性之優、缺點，可發現開放原始碼軟體未必如其支持者所稱較專屬軟體具有低成本、高技術性等之優點；至於市場佔有率方面，近十年來開放原始碼軟體雖在網頁瀏覽器(Brower)及行動設備作業系統的市占率呈現顯著成長，但在桌上型電腦、筆記型電腦、小筆電及伺服器的市場占有率則仍遠不及專屬軟體。 　　隨著開放原始碼軟體的興起，相關的問題及風險亦隨之產生。在商業模式方面，過去鼎力支持開放原始碼軟體，並且保證決不會以自家專利攻擊Linux社群及業者的IBM，如今也開始手持自家專利對付開放原始碼軟體業者，此一案例凸顯了開放原始碼軟體追求自由、開放分享的精神，與追求市占率及利潤為目標之企業經營環境，兩者間存在著本質上的衝突與矛盾。而為了降低使用開放原始碼軟體可能產生之風險，已有越來越多使用開放原始碼軟體的企業，改採混合碼（Mixed Source）的軟體策略，亦即在一項產品中，同時使用開放原始碼軟體和專屬軟體，儼然已成為國際趨勢；現今，已有超過50%的開放原始碼軟體供應商將開放原始碼軟體結合其內部專屬原始碼使用，有60%以上的開放原始碼軟體供應商已採用某些類型的商業授權方式，而一些原本非開放原始碼軟體的公司也開始利用開放原始碼來加強其市場競爭力。 　　在智慧財產權方面，部分開放原始碼軟體社群雖強烈反對以智慧財產權保護軟體，然此實與知識經濟時代下保護智慧財產權的發展趨勢背道而馳，因此，開放原始碼軟體不可避免的仍須面對智慧財產權管理及侵權訴訟等問題。然由於傳統開原碼軟體社群缺乏專業之法律或智慧財產管理人員，而技術或程式碼貢獻者又為數眾多，使得採用開放原始碼軟體在智慧財產權的管理、執行及訴訟風險上，面臨許多困難及挑戰。在開放原始碼軟體授權協議方面，開放原始碼軟體社群愈來愈強調使用者必須嚴格遵守授權協議之約定，且對於一些違反授權協議之使用者，已積極展開訴訟程序強制要求其遵守，因此，企業組織若要採用開放原始碼軟體，勢必需建立相關之風險管理和內部管理機制。 　　在歐洲、美洲及亞洲等世界各主要國家的軟體政策方面，過去雖有許多積極推動開放原始碼軟體計劃之媒體報導，然而，近幾年來，各國政府已較少採取獨厚開原碼的推廣政策，而大多數是以技術中立(Technical Neutral)或強調互通性的方式兼容並蓄的廣納各種不同的軟體授權模式，此也印證了混合碼的國際發展趨勢。至於我國的軟體發展政策，過去一直偏重在開放原始碼軟體的發展及補助上，然而執行的結果，不但市場現況與預期成果有相當大的落差，投入與產出顯不成比例，且由我國政府的自由軟體發展政策，亦可看出我國政府在資訊軟體產業發展政策上存在著將對開放原始碼的補助方案當作對整體資訊軟體產業的政策發展方向等等之混淆及迷思，此皆阻礙了我國資訊軟體產業之發展。 　　有鑑於此，本研究乃由策略大師麥可•波特(Michael E. Porter)所提出之國家競爭優勢鑽石體系（National Diamond）架構，分析我國在資訊軟體產業發展上的國家競爭力，並針對我國政府的資訊軟體產業發展政策，由組織領導、法令環境、創新商業模式、施政指標及匡正智庫角色等面向提出具體建議，期能對我國資訊軟體產業之發展有所貢獻及助益。 / Open Source Software (OSS) or Free Software has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. Comparing with traditional proprietary software, many governments, enterprises and institutions seems to believe that OSS is more cost effective and more secure, and thus support OSS. Similarly, a number of global companies have also started to invest in the development of related products that support OSS. However, after some in-depth analysis of the advantages and shorcomings in pricing, stability and functionality between OSS and proprietary software, it could be found that OSS may not have such high advantages in cost and technical level as its supporters asserted. Regarding the market shares in the last ten years, OSS has gained significant growth in the markets of Web Browser and Mobile Devise OS, but its market shares in Desktop Computer, Notebook, Netbook and Server markets are still far hehind proprietary software. 　　 The increasing popularity of OSS has inevitably triggered relevant issues and risk. From business model perspectives, previously IBM has been a long term OSS supporter and also publicly announced that it will never attack Linux companies and communities with its own patents. However, IBM recently began leveraging its patent portfolio and sending patent infringement warning to an OSS company who may compete with IBM in the server market. This recent case is a good example to highlight the inherent conflict and contradictions between the pursuit of freedom and open sharing spirit in OSS and the pursuit of profit and market shares in enterprise business environment. In order to reduce or manage the potential risk that could be triggered by OSS, more and more companies who use OSS begin to adjust their software strategy by adopting Mixed Source strategy. It has also become a trend in the global ICT industry to adopt or combine both OSS and Commercial Software into one product. Nowadays, more than 50% of OSS vendors start to combine OSS with their internal proprietary source code, more than 60% of OSS vendors have adopted certain types of commercial software licensing model, and some of the original non-OSS companies are also starting to leverage OSS to improve their market competitiveness. 　　With respect to intellectual property rights (IPR), even though some OSS communities still strongly oppose to the concept of IPR protection, some recent cases clearly prove that this kind of ideology is contrary to the trend of further improving IPR protection in the era of knowledge-based economy. Consequently, OSS still inevitably needs to face IPR management, infringement risk and licensing terms enforcement issues. However, due to the lack of professional legal or IPR management personnels in traditional OSS community and OSS projects usually involve numerous technical or code contributors, adopting OSS in current business environment will face many difficulties and challenges in IPR management, IPR enforcement and litigation risk. Another issue lies in the enforcement of OSS licensing terms, recently some OSS communities began to increasingly emphasize that users must strictly comply with all the licensing terms or requirements of the OSS model, and subsequently began to actively pursue legal enforcement actions against those violators. Therefore, it is imperative for any enterprise organization to establish comprehensive risk management and internal control/audit mechanism if it wishes to adopt OSS model. 　　In the past there were lots of media reports that actively promote government sponsored OSS policies in Europe, Asia and other major countries. However, there were less and less OSS only policy in recent years, governments around the world began to take Technical Neutral position or focus on interoperability by adopting a variety of different software licensing models. This development also confirms the international trend of adopting Mixed Source model. As for the software industry development policy in Taiwan, previously it has been focus on OSS related development and subsidy programs only. However, from the execution results, not only there is a huge gap between current market status and the expected results, the return of investment (ROI) from all those government funding programs is also extremely low. Furthermore, from the OSS development policy announced by the government, it is quite clear that there are confusions and myths among related government agencies that our current OSS development or subsidy programs equal to our national information software industry development policy. All of the above issues have seriously hindered the development of information software industry in Taiwan. 　　Based on the above analysis, this study leverages the National Diamond model proposed by the famous compete strategy expert, Michael E. Porter, to analyse the competitive advantages of Taiwan's information software industry. The study further proposes specific recommendations focusing on the organizational leadership, legal environment, innovation of business models, policy index, and the accurate role of think tanks in our government's information software industry development policy. Hopefully there will be some value-added and contributions to the development of information software industy in Taiwan.

從實踐中體現： 匯聚而生一個多元文化「Hackerspace」社群 / Hackerspaces are open and public workshops where participants pro-actively engage with technology in a social context. From origins in 1990s Germany, the global propagation of hackerspaces has been grassroots, decentralized, and extra-institutional. How does a new hackerspace emerge? What are some key social processes at work within a hackerspace and how are they conditioned by a multilingual, multicultural setting? What roles do values and ideology play? The present study addresses these questions through immersion in the social world of a hackerspace in Taipei, Taiwan. Participant observation and in-depth interview data were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. The results emphasize that initial organizing depends on catalysts and relevant prior experience may be crucial. Local conditions in the form of a multicultural, multilingual environment are shown to affect social processes, sometimes as a source of friction. Ideological and political concerns do not seem salient to Taipei Hackerspace participants generally, though values implicit in practices present alternatives to institutional conventions. In addition, four primary processes are proposed: “Project-ing,” Sharing, “Making it one’s own,” and Negotiating. Finally, support is given to the concept of a transferable hackerspace model that is adapted to local conditions. The values and principles observed—sharing and openness norms, “do-ocracy”, ad hoc organizing, resistance to rules and hierarchy—can be traced to various influences in hackerspaces’ historical development, particularly the open source movement, and serve to optimize hacking potential while fostering a heterogeneous community network.