[LINK] what to study about foss

[Deus Ex Machina]

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?"