FreeSoftwareDevelopmentCooperationandConflictinA摘要.docVIP

Free Software Development: Cooperation and Conflict in A Virtual Organizational Culture Margaret S. Elliott Institute for Software Research University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697 949 824-7202 melliott@ Walt Scacchi Institute for Software Research University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697 949 824-4130 wscacchi@ Introduction Open source software development (OSSD) projects are growing at a rapid rate. The SourceForge Web site estimates 500,000+ users with 700 new ones joining every day and a total of 50,000+ projects with 60 new ones added each day. Thousands of OSSD projects have emerged within the past few years (DiBona et al., 1999; Pavlicek, 2000) leading to the formation of globally dispersed virtual communities (Kollock and Smith, 1999). Examples of open software projects are found in the social worlds that surround computer game development; X-ray astronomy and deep space imaging; academic software design research; business software development; and Internet/Web infrastructure development (Elliott and Scacchi, 2002; Elliott and Scacchi, 2003; Scacchi, 2001, 2002a, 2002b). In communities such as these, OSS developers work as peers relying on Web-based computing environments to support and coordinate their development work in decentralized settings. Working together in a virtual community in non-collocated environments, OSS developers communicate and collaborate using a wide range of web-based tools including Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for instant messaging, CVS for concurrent version control (Fogel, 1999), electronic mailing lists, and more (Scacchi, 2002a). Proponents of OSSD hail advantages such as improved software validity, simplification of collaboration, and reduced software acquisition costs. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to validate or explore claims like these (e.g., Mockus et al., 2000, 2002). Research has focused on the quantitative side of OSSD projects, such as aspects of developer defect density c