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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. Open Source Presentation by siokaos · · Score: 5, Informative

    My writing class had an open topic presentation, and some friends of mine and I just did a presentation on the Business and Development elements of open source projects :)

    Check it out
    http://neuclid.com/OpenSourcePres.pdf

    --
    http://siokaos.org/
  2. Did any mod actually read the linked pdf paper? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The pdf paper isn't particularly informative, in fact it's redundant because you can find most of the information on the web, and the business plan suggested in the paper is completely one dimensional and is based around total cost of ownership. Real world business models are way more complex. The ones written by Michael E. Porter for an example.

    Anyone thinking this is informative should gain some critical thinking and/or business skills.