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Users as Innovators - Why Open Source Works

Posted by timothy on from the pave-your-path-where-the-grass-is-bent dept.

eaglemoon writes "Many people still have difficulty understanding why open source software projects are successfull. The Boston Globe has an interview with Eric von Hippel, a Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, on users as innovators. In his new book, von Hippel, discusses how open source projects draw on the creativity of ''lead users," who are often ahead of the curve on technology and marketplace trends. Von Hippel shows the trend already is more advanced than is generally known, and users often freely reveal their innovations for the common good. The social efficiency of a system in which individual innovations are developed by individual users is increased if users somehow diffuse what they have developed to others.....he also notes that the transition to user-centered innovation is hard for some companies to swallow.
The online version of the book is available under a Creative Commons license."

2 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Problem with Article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    They're implying that open source works in the first place!

  2. ENOUGH ALREADY!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Linux has what? 2% market share on the desktop? Yet we get these articles:
    "WHY OPEN SOURCE IS SOOO TEH R0X0R!!!1!!1! THE END OF COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE IS HERE!!!!!!"

    Stop congratulating yourselves all the time! Its really pathetic. If you had some large market share then yes but this is just fanboi crap that looks really stupid

    Oh, heres another headline:
    2005 IS YEAR OF TEH LINUX DESKTOP

    Or how about:
    WHY OPEN SOURCE IS SO SECURE COMPARED TO CLOSED SOURCE

    Or
    WHY MY LINUX BOXEN NEVER CRASHES AND ANYONE WHO HAS LINUX CRASH IS TEH LIAR!