A Brief Survey of the Economics of Open Source Software

The open source model is a form of software development in which the source code is made available, free of charge, to all interested parties; further users have the right to modify and extend the program. Open source software (OSS) methods rely on developers who reveal the source code under an open source license. Under certain types of open source licenses, any further development using the source code must also be publicly disclosed. In this brief survey, we will focus on several key aspects of open source software.