Based on collaboration rather than competition, Open Source Software provides a new dynamic in the development and use of software systems. As such it has the potential to make a significant legal, social and economic impact on the industry. While its origins trace back to the start of the software industry, the recent success of the Linux operation system, Apache web server or the Mozilla Firefox Internet Browser provide impetus to the growth of interest in this movement. However, while a number of studies have been conducted on its development, few have provided empirical evidence of its adoption within the South East Asian context. This study aims to investigate factors leading to the adoption of Open Source Software in Singaporean Organisations. The research has found that the adoption of Open Source Software is driven by the perception of a cost advantage. The organisations interviewed have acknowledged cost as being one of their biggest concerns and top priorities. While costs were stated to be of major concern to the organisations, objective measures of cost such as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI) were rarely used by the organisations studied. This perception of cost saving is found to be led by industry sources such as publications, conferences and websites. The next significant finding is the need for increased open source software skills in the industry. One of the major drivers of Open Source Software Adoption in the organisations is that they posses pre-existing skills in Open Source Software use. This enables them to better mitigate risk and to lower their training costs. The final principal finding is that Open Source Software appears to be used mainly in systems infrastructure applications. Organisations reported a large degree of satisfaction including increased stability, scalability and cost effectiveness. Issues remain with Open Source Software’s manageability, its quality of support and ease of use.

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 28, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-87). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-08-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:58:26Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_ff_me_guara.pdf: 4729647 bytes, checksum: 7db1bd019b542d769c6c054a27719a6f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Biomodelagem é um termo genérico que designa a habilidade de replicar a morfologia de uma estrutura biológica em um modelo físico. Por ser uma técnica relativamente nova, sua disseminação é limitada pelo alto custo de aquisição de softwares proprietários e hardware de alto desempenho, impedindo sua utilização em hospitais públicos, centros de saúde e consultórios médicos. O objetivo principal desse trabalho é apresentar uma proposta de biomodelagem virtual através do uso de softwares livres instalados em equipamentos convencionais de informática e contribuir de forma efetiva para redução dos custos da técnica. Para atingir o objetivo, foi necessário identificar softwares livres dedicados e CAD que pudessem ser aplicados em conjunto para desenvolvimento de projetos em biomodelagem. Dentre a diversidade de programas disponíveis, observou-se que os softwares Invesalius 3.0 e FreeCAD 0.11 possuíam as características necessárias para aplicação da técnica. Baseado nos conceitos de biomodelagem, três estudos de caso foram abordados para elaboração do diagnóstico e planejamento cirúrgico, auxiliando o médico na tomada de decisões. Os resultados demonstraram que a biomodelagem virtual por meio do uso dos softwares livres Invesalius 3.0 e FreeCAD 0.11, instalados em equipamentos convencionais de informática, é viável para uso na rotina médica em diversas situações de diagnóstico e planejamento cirúrgico. As principais vantagens apresentadas são a redução dos custos em biomodelagem e a possibilidade de disseminação da técnica, permitindo a inclusão de um maior número de pacientes submetidos às tecnologias 3D / Biomodeling is a generic term for the ability to replicate the morphology of biological structure in a physical model. As it is a relatively new technique, its dissemination is limited by the high cost of purchase of proprietary software and high performance hardware, impeding their use in public hospitals, health centers and physician offices. The main objectives of this work are to propose a virtual biomodeling through the use of open source software installed in a conventional computer equipment and to effectively contribute in reducing the technique costs. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, it was necessary to identify dedicated open source software and CAD open source software that could be applied together to develop biomodeling projects. Among the variety of programs available, it was noted that the software InVesalius 3.0 and the FreeCAD 0.11 had the necessary characteristics for the application of the technique. Based on the concepts of biomodeling, three case studies were discussed for making the diagnosis and the surgical planning, assisting the physician in making decisions. The results showed that the virtual biomodeling through the use of the open source software called InVesalius 3.0 and FreeCAD 0.11, installed in conventional computer equipment, is feasible for the routine use in many situations of medical diagnostic and surgical planning. The main advantages are the cost reduction in biomodeling and the possibility of spreading the technique, allowing the inclusion of a greater number of patients subjected to 3D technologies

There has been little understanding of how the existence and exercise of formal intellectual property rights (IPR) such as patents influence the direction of OSS innovation. This dissertation seeks to bridge this gap in prior literature by focusing on two closely related topics. First, it investigates how OSS adoption and production are influenced by IPR enforcement exercised by proprietary incumbents. It suggests that when an IPR enforcement action is filed, user interest and developer activity will be negatively affected in two types of related OSS projects--those that display technology overlap with the litigated OSS and business projects that are specific to a focal litigated platform. The empirical analyses based on data from SourceForge.net strongly support the hypotheses. Second, it examines the impact of royalty-free patent pools contributed by OSS-friendly incumbents on OSS product entry by start-up firms. It argues that increases in the size of the OSS patent pool related to a software segment will facilitate OSS entry by start-up firms into the same segment; further, the marginal effect of the pool on OSS entry will be especially large in software segments where the cumulativeness of innovation is high or where patent ownership in a segment is concentrated. These hypotheses are empirically tested through examining the impacts of a major OSS patent pool--the Patent Commons, established by IBM and a few others in 2005--on OSS entry by 2,054 start-up firms from 1999 to 2009. The empirical results largely support these hypotheses and are robust to adding a variety of controls as well as to GMM instrumental variables estimation.

Published Article / In the era of open innovation, the capability to conduct collaborative research and development has become a key indicator of absorptive capacity and innovation competitiveness. However, the literature addressing open innovation has a focus on developed economies. New evidence from the South African National R&D Survey, together with supplementary data, make it possible to gain a greater understanding of the structure of open innovation in nanotechnology, biotechnology and open source software in the South African context. Findings from a comparative analysis include: the identification of collaboration-intensive R&D networks whose structures are influenced by the characteristics of each technological platform; linkages between localized innovation networks and global innovation networks; and distinct patterns of expenditure, sectoral distribution and geographical location characterizing each of these technologies. The paper concludes with some suggestions for policy applications for these findings as well as directions for further research.

<p>Open source software is becoming a credible and realistic alternative to proprietary software in municipalities. The aim of this thesis is to explore the strategies and logical issues that inspire and motivate municipalities to migrate into or integrate use of open source software. The research approach used in the study is an explorative, comparative case study performed in the three Swedish municipalities of Falköping, Alingsås and Kungälv, which considers implementation and use of OpenOffice in administration. The methodologies used in the case study were in-depth interviews with Chief Information Officers in the municipalities and document analysis. The interviews were combined with the tool of SWOTanalysis to further focus on the reasons for choosing OpenOffice as an application program. There is certainly not a unique strategy to migrate into or integrate use of Free/Open Source Software. Since each municipality is autonomous in the process of decision-making, various strategic planning or guidelines are use in different municipalities. In the municipalities of Alingsås and Kungälv the strategic planning is used for leading the processes of implementation of new software applications. However, in Falköping municipality, the procedures are guided by a set of guidelines. The lower Total Cost of Ownership and the Free/Open Source Software’s freedoms besides many other advantages, make the municipalities stimulated to migrate into use of OpenOffice suite. In contrast, there are some drawbacks and barriers, such as shortage of internal and external standardization and lack of user knowledge and familiarity, which demotivate the municipalities to take this decision. To lower costs of IT administration seems to be the most significant factor in motivating municipalities to migrate into use of OpenOffice. More research is needed in order to find out the consequences of implementation of OpenOffice in municipalities as well as to investigate if Total Cost of Ownership really is decreased by the use of Open Office.</p>

This paper presents first results from research into open source projects from a software engineering perspective. The research methodology employed relies on public data retrieved from the CVS-repository of the GNOME project and relevant discussion groups. This methodology is described in detail and some of the results concerning the special characteristics of open source software development are given. (author's abstract) / Series: Diskussionspapiere zum Tätigkeitsfeld Informationsverarbeitung und Informationswirtschaft

In this discussion paper, we argue that the literature on tree algorithms is very fragmented. We identify possible causes and discuss good and bad sides of this situation. Among the latter is the lack of free open-source implementations for many algorithms. We argue that if the community adopts a standard of creating and sharing free open-source implementations for their developed algorithms and creates easy access to these programs the bad sides of the fragmentation will be actively combated and will benefit the whole scientific community. (authors' abstract)

Chapter 2 starts by discussing the approach to take when evaluating open source software from a value perspective, in other words, to look past the “excitement” in order to make an objective, fact-based decision. To identify value aspects, the customer activity cycle is used. This cycle defines three phases of activity – pre, during and post, with value contributions possible at each phase. The pre phase is then elaborated upon in this chapter – a phase where the decision on “what” is made. In other words, what product is most necessary for an organisation based on its current requirements in the value chain, the value delivery network as well as minimising the type of risks involved. / Prof. N. Lessing