The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and Microsoft. I first describe...

The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its competitive position. However, the uncertain and dynamic nature of today's global marketplace dictates that this software be continually evolved and adapted, to meet new business challenges. This ability – to rapidly...

In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterizing the architecture of complex technical systems and demonstrate its application to a large sample of software releases. Our methodology is based upon directed network graphs, which allows us to identify all of the direct and...

In this paper, I describe and analyze the phenomenon of informal development collaborationbetween firms in the field of embedded Linux, a type of open source software. Toexplain the observed phenomenon of voluntary revealing, I develop a duopoly model ofquality competition. The central...

The link between firms engaging in open source software (OSS) development and the OSScommunity is established by individual developers. This linkage might entail a principalagentissue due to the developer’s double allegiance to firm and OSS community, and exposethe firm to the risk of losing...

This paper provides a quantitative study (N = 268) of patterns of free revealing offirm-developed innovations within embedded Linux, a type of open source software (OSS). Ifind that firms, without being obliged to do so, contribute many of their own developmentsback to public embedded Linux...