Trends in Free, Libre, Open Source Software Communities: From Volunteers to Companies / Aktuelle Trends in Free-, Libre-, und Open-Source-Software-Gemeinschaften: Von Freiwilligen zu Unternehmen

Abstract

Summary The first free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) development communities were composed almost exclusively of volunteers. They were individuals who, despite their affiliation, contributed to the project on their own. They decided which project to join, and their contributions were personal in nature, even when in some cases they were employees of companies with some interests in the project. GNU, the first of such communities, and some others that emerged during the late 1980s and 1990s, followed this pattern. During the 1990s corporate interests started to have a role in some FLOSS communities. Companies hired people from those communities to gain influence, or tasked their employees to contribute to them, again with the idea of influencing their decisions. During the 2000s, corporate communities, in which companies are first-class citizens, have emerged, changing the rules and redefining the role of volunteers and non-affiliated individuals. However, the role of developers, with independence of the company for which they work, is still important even in these communities. This paper addresses this transition from volunteer-based to company-based development communities, and explores the structure and behavior of the latter.