The Quality of Sustainability and the Nature of Open Source Software

Abstract

"Open Source Software has proved to be reliable and efficient in many cases. Therefore the technical advantages are self-explanatory. What is interesting about this work is the production model itself. As will be displayed it has a commons based structure and arises through collective action. A general economic assumption is that such forms of organisations own the risk to fail. With these conditions in mind Open Source Software likewise should break down. Therefore it is not so much a question of why it exists, which might be a more ideological discussion, it is more a question of why it is sustainable.

"For that reason the conception of a commons and their failure will be examined as well as the argument of why Open Source Software is a kind of a commons and why it is sustainable. But firstly, as a deeper introduction, the emphasis will be on the nature of innovations and their meaning within the realm of software, especially in the case of Open Source."