The Success of Open Source

Citation

Robertson, R.J. (2006), "The Success of Open Source", Library Review, Vol. 55 No. 9, pp. 642-643. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610706888

In The Success of Open Source, Steven Weber sets out to examine why and how the Open Source movement has survived and succeeded in its approach to software creation, ownership, and communal development despite appearing to contradict fundamental principles of modern economics. He approaches this task using the tools, techniques, and perspective of political economy, and succeeds, not only in effectively carrying out his chosen analysis, but also in presenting it in an enticing and accessible manner. The book has a clear layout, good margins, and its chapters are well structured with useful sub‐headings.

The book consists of eight chapters, and, beginning with a brief introduction to Open Source's distinctive view of property rights, the first half of the book covers the origin, history, and philosophy of the Open Source approach. The second half of the book uses examples from the movement to examine and explore in detail how and why this distinctive approach to property and collaborative development works at both micro‐ and macro‐levels, how it supports successful business models, and how it interacts with legal systems which are based on a more traditional approach to property rights. Weber then concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the success of Open Source for wider settings.

Weber explores Open Source by means of examining how the movement is able to motivate participants, co‐ordinate their efforts, and deal with complexity. He draws out the different responses to these problems within the Open Source community and contrasts them with approaches based on traditional approaches to property. He then traces the Open Source community's self‐understanding by examining and critiquing the communal metaphors it has adopted (as articulated in Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary) and by clearly outlining and analysing critical developments and conflicts in the community's history. In the concluding chapter Weber sets out the conditions under which Open Source's approach to property and distributed development might work for other domains and enterprises.

Weber's book deserves the glowing response it has received within and outwith the computing community, and provides a careful, thought‐provoking study of an important phenomenon of the twentieth century. For these reasons alone it is worth reading. And while it will of course appeal to those interested or participating in the Open Source movement, for the information professional, in particular, it offers helpful insight into the advantages and limits of sustainable models of cooperative effort that do not depend on remuneration or hierarchy. This is particularly pertinent as libraries increasingly make available metadata they have created about digital or physical assets, and as they are involved in the management of digital assets. In the first instance, information professionals, like Open Source developers, find themselves producing something for the public good, giving away their product (metadata) with no guaranteed return.

This book may help them manage expectations (theirs and others) and articulate, in economic terms, why giving away their commodity might make sense. In the second instance, information professionals are increasingly called on to administer, arbitrate, and communicate about digital rights. Many of those they interact with in this capacity, especially in an academic setting, will have been influenced by the Open Source movement or have parallel attitudes to collaborative work – this book may assist them to develop a more nuanced articulation of opinion and a greater understanding of the issues.