The presence of learning in organizations is important for success and survival. Recent research into open source software developers has primarily suggested a social constructivist view where knowledge is constructed in the social relationships within the team culture. I report results from a case study that investigated the presence of situated learning among open source developers at an earlier time of a project. Thirty-eight developers were systematically selected and examined on their performance, experience and roles during ten months of maintenance work. I followed a model of learning curve effects that associated the improvement in the average resolving time with the accumulated experience. I found a strong relationship between the two variables and confirmed the presence of learning. In addition, I found a less convincing evidence to affirm knowledge depreciated among open source software developers. The depreciation factor was estimated to be 94 percent, compared to other studies which ranged between 65 to 85 percent. An additional investigation was conducted around the organization structure to understand whether core and peripheral members have different average resolving time. The finding was inconclusive to claim both groups have different means towards issue resolution. The consistency in the result of this thesis and several other related research efforts suggests that learning is likely to be an intrinsic characteristic of open source software development rather than just a speculation in the literatures.

This thesis is describing a business strategy of how to license a software product. The licenses discussed in this thesis are called open source licenses. The open source licenses have gained much attention lately by companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Sun Microsystems. The reason for this is that some products considered being open source software are very widely used. These products include the most popular web server, the Apache web server, with more than 60% market share. 25% of the installed operating systems that are running Apache and other web servers are installed with Linux as operating system, which is also considered as open source software. These are only two examples of popular products that are considered as open source software products. These products are choices for many people and companies when choosing software to use, for example NASA. Open source licenses are called open in the way that the software is shipped not only in binary form, but also with the source code that can be modified and recompiled to suit the buyer’s need better. Apache web server and the Linux operating system are free for download, install, run and modify to suit your needs. In this thesis I will discuss whether these licenses can increase the chance of developing a successful product or not, in terms of market shares. / Affärsmodeller kring öppen källkod diskuteras i denna magisteruppats. Det finns ett flertal programvaror byggd på öppen källkod som kan betraktas som framgångsrika om man avser antal användare eller hur stora marknadsandelar produkterna har. Diskussionen i magister uppsatsen kretsar därför om man kan öka sina chanser att utveckla framgångsrika produkter genom att använda sig av öppen källkod främst ur ett företags perspektiv som har vinstintresse. / Mats Nilsson Kabelgatan 13D 414 57 Göteborg

Today’s software companies face the challenges of highly distributed development projects and constant changing requirements. To be competitive, the software time to market has to be reduced as much as possible while keeping the expected quality. Development methodologies try to address this challenges by introducing new practices, techniques and methods for communication, requirements management, quality assurance, etc. This thesis proposes the adoption of relevant Free/Libre/Open Source Software practices to improve industrial developments. Many FLOSS projects have proven very successful, producing high quality products with steady frequent releases. The selection of the FLOSS best practices that would benefit industrial developments, and its adaptation for a corporate environment is the aim of this study. To achieve this goal, a framework to compare FLOSS and industrial development methodologies has been created and executed. Three successful FLOSS projects where selected as study targets, as well as two Ericsson’s projects. The framework served to identify FLOSS methodology strengths and compare them with the Ericsson projects. Analysing the significant differences resulting from this comparison, FLOSS best practices were tailored to fit industrial development environments. The final results of the thesis are six adoption opportunities that aim to improve software quality and overall development productivity while increasing practitioners’ motivation and commitment.

In this thesis we explore how knowledge management is performed in open source projects. Open source projects are often perceived as informal, even unmanaged. Still, they appear to manage knowledge acquisition and sharing sufficiently well to successfully develop software in such a distributed environment as the Internet. This thesis aims to explore that apparent contradiction, and thus complement the currently limited research in this field. The thesis consists of a literature study of knowledge management theory and open source development, resulting in the analysis of open source practices from a knowledge management perspective. Currently the field of knowledge management maintains several, partially opposing doctrines. Apart from the business aspect, two main schools of thought are present. The commodity school approaches knowledge as a universal truth, an object that can be separated from the knower. The community school emphasises knowledge as something internal to the human mind, but which can be shared as experiences between people. In the analysis presented, we have applied an analysis method which considers both the commodity and the community perspectives. The analysis is based on previous research studies of open source, and open source practices, and is furthered by a cursory case study using examples from a selected set of open source projects. Our conclusions are that knowledge management indeed is present in open source projects, and that it is supported by an ecology like interaction of project practices. / Denna uppsats undersöker hur kunskapsledning används i öppenkällkodsprojekt. Öppenkällkodsprojekt uppfattas ofta som informella, ibland till och med okontrollerade. Ändå verkar de kunna hämta in och sprida kunskap tillräckligt väl för att kunna utveckla lyckade programvaruprojekt, även i en så distribuerad miljö som Internet. Med uppsatsen vill vi undersöka den skenbara motsättningen. Uppsatsen består av en literaturstudie av kunskapsledning och öppen källkod. Dessa studier har utmynnat i en analys av projektmetoder som används i öppenkällkodsprojekt, sett från ett kunskapsledningsperspektiv. Idag finns det flera motsägelsefulla lärosatser inom området kunskapsledning. Två huvudsakliga inriktningar är den kognitiva skolan och den konstruktivistiska skolan. I den kognitiva skolan anses kunskap kunna objektiviseras och behandlas som en vara, separat från personen som har kunskapen. Den konstruktivistiska skolan anser att kuskapen är bunden till den som vet, men att det går att dela med sig av kunskap genom social interaktion. I uppsatsen har vi analyserat projektmetoderna från båda dessa perspektiv. Analysen baseras på tidigare forskning om öppenkällkodsprojekt, och kompletteras av exempel på hur projektmetoderna används i ett urval av öppenkällkodsprojekt. Våra slutsatser är att det finns ett starkt stöd för kunskapsledning i öppenkällkodsprojekt och att den stöds av en ekologiliknande växelverkan mellan olika projektmetoder.

MSB stands for Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. It’s a government organization that deals with emergencies and crises. MSB has developed a software package where the newest software version is called RIB 2012. The package includes the program RIB Karta. RIB Karta has made it possible to produce an overall picture consisting of different types of information onto a single map. RIB Karta is a very simple map viewer without any analysis functions. The purpose of this degree project is to compare several open source software with the existing RIB Karta. The study will result in suggestions for a possible open source program which allows the use of geographic data internally within MSB and the existing RIB Karta. The programs that were studied are: gvSIG, MapWindow, OpenJUMP, Quantum GIS and uDig. The advantage of using open source software is that they are free, and the access to the source code allows them to be modified to suit your needs. This program is also an alternative to RIB Karta meaning that the program may be freely distributed resulting in a great advantage. One disadvantage is that if major changes in the source code are made, the support may be difficult to access. The license for open source software designed to code should be made available for everyone. Investigations by various open source GIS software have been implemented in the order to present the program that has more features than RIB Karta but still understandable to people with non-GIS experience. When compared with one another, the studies show pros and cons within each of the programs. The investigations have been made after a survey template that was developed after meetings with MSB. Functions, analysis capabilities and ease of use are what have been taken into account. The most suitable software is therefore chosen after taking into account these distinguishing factors From the results of the studies Quantum GIS software is recommended for internal use in MSB and in RIB Karta. Based on its variety in terms of features and good usability we conclude that Quantum GIS is the best choice. / MSB står för Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap. Det är en statlig organisation som arbetar med olycks- och krishantering. MSB har arbetat fram ett programpaket där den nyaste programversionen heter RIB 2012. I paketet ingår programmet RIB Karta som gör det möjligt att få en samlad bild av olika typer av information i en och samma karta. RIB Karta är ett mycket enkelt kartvisningsprogram utan analysfunktioner. Syftet med uppgiften är att jämföra flera open source GIS program med befintlig RIB Karta. Arbetet ska resultera i förslag på möjliga open source program som kan vara en komplettering till RIB Karta. Det ska även kunna användas internt inom MSB för personal som inte behöver ett avancerat GIS program. Programmet ska kunna visa geografiskdata, skapa kartor och kunna göra enkla analyser. De program som undersökts är: gvSIG, MapWindow, OpenJUMP, Quantum GIS och uDig. Fördelarna med att använda open source program är att de nästan alltid är gratis och tillgången till källkoden gör att de kan modifieras efter egna behov. Alla undersökta program i denna rapport är gratis. Eftersom det också ska vara ett alternativ till RIB Karta så är även att programmet får spridas fritt en stor fördel. En av nackdelarna är att om stora ändringar i källkoden har gjorts kan support vara svårt att tillgå. Licenserna för open source programvaror är utformade för att koden ska bevaras tillgänglig. Undersökningar av olika open source GIS program har genomförts för att presentera ett program som har fler funktioner än RIB Karta men fortfarande är lättförståeligt för icke GIS kunniga. I undersökningarna har för- och nackdelar i programmen ställts emot varandra. Undersökningarna har gjorts efter en undersökningsmall som tagits fram efter möten med MSB. Funktioner, analysmöjligheter och användarvänlighet är vad som tagits i beaktande. Det är detta som valet av rekommenderad programvara är grundat på. Från resultatet av undersökningarna rekommenderas Quantum GIS som programvara för användning i både RIB Karta och inom MSB’s verksamhet. Detta för sin bredd när det gäller funktioner och goda användarvänlighet.

Mental health care is critical and while governments are trying to increase awareness of the problem the available resources is not sufficient to confront the growing problem. The thesis proposes a design theory, using Gregor and Jones’s (2007) ‘Anatomy of a Design Theory’ framework, for the current mental illness dilemma that all societies are facing. The proposed solution is one of using information systems, together with domain knowledge and conventional instruments from the field of psychology to create a general screening tool. The design theory takes an ontological approach to defining the domain’s knowledge, using the MINI instrument along with expert knowledge to form the basis of the artifact. The artifact consists of four main entities: Background Information, Screening Questions, Pre-Requisite Questions and Other Questions. The thesis discusses the theoretical rationale for the screening took and then presents an instantiation of the artifact. This tool would be able to screen any person (with the exception of the mentally handicapped) to ascertain if they have a mental disorder as defined in the DSM-IV.

Denna uppsats undersöker möjligheten att använda ett nätverksövervakningssystem för att även övervaka maskindrivna processer. Kan man baka ihop övervakningen av den maskinella processen och datorn som styr maskinen i ett och samma system? Detta genomförs genom att identifiera och implementera ett lämpligt övervakningssystem i en befintlig maskinell laborationsmiljö. Arbetet utvärderas därefter enligt ett antal felscenarion och även utifrån ett systemadministratörsperspektiv. Intervjuer med praktiker inom industribranchen utförs också för att dra ytterligare slutsatser.

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This thesis presents a comparison among two different open-source company-solutions, taking into account the cost, performance and functionality. The compared open-source solutions are: LTSP and Openthinclient. The thesis also explains the normal client/server environment, fat- and thin-client environments and the concept of cloud computing. Giving a final answer to which product is the best is a challenging task since they both have strong and weak sides. Depending on what the customer is after when looking to invest into an open-source alternative of thin-client solutions, the result will be different.

Software systems evolve over the life span to accommodate changes in order to meet technical and business requirements. Evolution of open source software (OSS) is challenging because of involvement from a large number of independent teams and developers who make modifications in the systems according to their own requirements. It is required to evaluate these changes as these are being incorporated into the system against the long term evolvability objectives. This paper presents the analysis of the Hackystat, an OSS framework; against analyzability, changeability, extensibility, testability domain specific quality attributes. The analysis of the processes used during the development of the OSS systems is also discussed. On the basis of the analysis and the early research conducted to evaluate software evolvability, an evolvability analysis method for OSS evolution is presented in this report. Guidelines of the model suggest that the requirements identification and analysis, identification of the system components that are to be affected as a result of the change, identification and prioritization of the potential solutions, evaluation of the potential solutions with respect to evolvability characteristics, use of test driven development and automated build tools are the important steps that should be performed to evaluate system changes. Evolvability analysis model also suggests that the team which is responsible to for system overall architecture (project control group) should also evaluate changes submitted by different teams. A case study to modify a service oriented architecture bases system into software as a service cloud model following the guidelines of evolvability analysis model is also presented.