For a decade, economists have been fascinated by the phenomenon of open source software (OSS). OSS is marked by free access to the software and its source code. It is developed in a public, collaborative manner by thousands of non-paid volunteers as well as profit seeking firms. Today, OSS is...

We analyze the characteristics of new businesses in the German ICT industry, distinguishing them based on their choice between two IPR regimes: open source software (OSS) or closed source software (CSS). The share of new firms with an OSS-based business model has increased considerably over the...

TaxMe-Online is the online tax declaration system of the Canton of Bern in Switzerland, where each of the 26 Cantons has its own fiscal regime and taxation system. In 2008 it was used by almost 26 percent of the Canton of Bern taxpayers (42% used the TaxMe-CD or other software, and the last...

Cet article tente de mieux cerner les causes du développement et du maintien du Réseau Coopératif des Logiciels Libres dans l'activité informatique. S'agissant du développement, nous mettons en avant le rôle décisif des facteurs culturels. En ce qui concerne le maintien, deux facteurs...

The ICT sector is featured by technical progress, convergence and systems integration. This leads to risks of monopolization regimes at the core with higher competition regimes at the periphery. Moreover, some specific component of the system may be essential for its evolution. In particular,...

For a decade, economists have been fascinated by the phenomenon of open source software (OSS). OSS is marked by free access to the software and its source code. It is developed in a public, collaborative manner by thousands of non-paid volunteers as well as profit seeking firms. Today, OSS is...

La littérature en SI (Système d'Informations) s'est largement intéressée aux technologies open source tant du point du vue des stratégies IT (Information Technologies), des modèles d'affaires que de la phénoménologie organisationnelle. Toutefois, les travaux en management des SI se sont...

Software is a good with very special economic characteristics. Taking a general definition of software as its starting-point, this article systematically elaborates the central qualities of the commodity which have implications for its production and cost structure, the demand, the...