[LINK] what to study about foss

[Brendan Scott]

Deus Ex Machina wrote:
> http://weblog.ipcentral.info/archives/2006/09/what_to_study_a_1.html
> 
> "The NSF gives a UC Davis team funding to study how various FOSS projects
> emerged.
> 
> I skeptically accept FOSS as a contributor to the technological
> community. On the one hand, FOSS enables many talented developers to
> contribute and refine their skills. Plus, a few FOSS technologies have
> gained industry wide acceptance and adoption. On the other hand, when
> someone is going to study how successful FOSS projects work, I hope they
> can answer these questions begged by the revolutionary hype- hoopla of
> some FOSS supporters. 
> 
> 	1) what explains the inability of FOSS to respond to consumer and market
> 	driven demand, as in the case where FOSS failed to develop accessibility
> 	features for its desktop applications in Massachusetts.
> 	2) given the years FOSS has been around, the "man hours" dedicated to
> 	its projects, and the myriads of eyeballs peering into its code, why has
> 	FOSS generated only a few commercial successes?
> 	3) most admit the limitations of FOSS in segments of systems and
> 	architectures. Given this, shouldn't FOSS adopt licenses to ensure its
> 	"mixture" with mass-market proprietary technologies, as that seems the
> 	only route for long term adoption and viability?
> 	4) do companies such as IBM and Red Hat rely on innovation in FOSS
> 	technologies for their service businesses? What does this say about the
> 	"innovativeness" vs business aspects of FOSS when firms can still make
> 	money even if FOSS technologies improve incrementally or not at all? .
> 	5) how do FOSS companies compete for developers. After years and
> 	hundreds if not thousands of FOSS projects, are there "all-star"
> 	developers courted by project leaders or companies?
> 	6) how much say do FOSS volunteers have in proposing ideas or
> 	directional changes in development efforts? Is this anyway to treat
> 	folks who lend their work to giants like IBM and Red Hat, who then turn
> 	around and make money off that.
> 	7) finally, is there any plan to oust Moglen-Stallman and replace them
> 	with reasonable representatives such as Oreilly-Torvalds?"

<laugh>

I think the term for this is "framing".

The answer to all of these questions is: "It's the free market.  Stop thinking that monopolies are desirable and everything will become clear."