Introduction to JAIS Special Issue on Empirical Research on Free/Libre Open Source Software
Kevin Crowston, Michael R. Wade, IMD Lausanne · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · 2010
In the second of the two papers, Software Licenses in Context: The Challenge of Heterogeneously-Licensed Systems, authors Alspaugh, Scacchi and Asuncion note that systems are increasingly composed of components from different sources.These components might be licensed under different -and not always compatible -licenses, posing considerable compliance problems for organizations using the software.The authors present an approach for understanding and modeling software licenses, as well as for analyzing conflicts among groups of licenses in realistic system contexts.The paper provides guidance for achieving a "best-of-breed" component strategy while balancing license rights and obligations.The final paper in this part of the special issue is The Process of Introducing FLOSS in the Public Administration: The Case of Venezuela by Maldonado.Implementation has been a central theme in information systems research, but to date only a few studies have focused on the implementation of FLOSS (i.e., Fitzgerald and Kenny, 2003).Interestingly, FLOSS has been widely adopted by public organizations for both political and economic reasons.Maldonado describes mandatory FLOSS policies in Venezuela and the initiatives associated with the adoption process.He finds that Venezuela's FLOSS migration process pursued agendas of social inclusion, sovereignty and freedom using FLOSS technology.The special issue will continue next month with five articles that examine the processes of FLOSS development in more detail.