Reddit mentions of The Success of Open Source

The Success of Open Source by Steven Weber. I found this book at my library and ended up buying it after reading it because it had so much good content.

I think the notion of value creation is probably the greatest benefit of open source designs (don't confuse this with profit creation). Carl Shapiro refers to the notion of network externalities in his book Information Rules. This refers to the value that is added to each participant in a network as more people become involved. In other words, the more people that join open source networks, the greater a value that network is to everyone that uses it.

http://www.amazon.com/Information-Rules-Strategic-Network-Economy/dp/087584863X

I hear a lot of people, including economists, energy experts, sustainability activists, refer to the need for an abundance culture, rather than a culture of scarcity. We need to focus on how we can increase the propagation of information rather than focus on how we control it. This is the very essence of creative commons licenses in which the right to distribute is guaranteed, rather than the restriction of access as is created by traditional copyright (see copyleft vs. copyright). Eisenstein and his book Sacred Economics (its free: http://sacred-economics.com/read-online/) is probably the most informative resource I have found on the topic of the economics of abundance.

Neither of these books is directly related to open source, but I think they can help provide a context for how open source networks could work. Just so you get some directly related information from me, I have been reading the book "The Success of Open Source" by Steven Weber, and it is an excellent source for learning about the general nature of open source designs.

http://www.amazon.com/Success-Open-Source-Steven-Weber/dp/0674018583

So far, in my own research I have found that information about general open source designs is still sparse. The research that does exist typically refers to software design, so the ability to apply the benefits the software world receives from open source communities to the real world is necessary.

P.S. these are both common books, so check your library first.