Protecting the Virtual Commons

Ruben van Wendel de Joode, Ph.D. student, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. J. A. (Hans) de Bruijn, Professor of Organization and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Michel J.G. van Eeten, Associate Professor, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Describing open source and free software communities; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Popularity of open source and free software; 1.3 Historical development of openness and freedom; 1.4 The communities; 1.5 Characteristics of the communities; 2. Interpreting open source and free software communities; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 The challenge facing open source and free software; 2.3 How individuals in communities provide a public good; 2.4 On the nature of innovations; 2.5 Variation and selection in open source and free software communities; 2.6 Summary; 3. The commons under pressure: business processes and IPR; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 What are intellectual property rights?; 3.3 Copyrights and patents on software; 3.4 Firms and their attitude towards IPR in the digital age; 3.5 Threats from the physical domain; 3.6 Summary; 4. Mechanisms to protect the commons; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Open source and free software licenses; 4.3 Beachheads; 4.4 Strategies; 4.5 Communities becoming a threat to the corporate software; 4.6 Effects of the protection mechanisms; 5. Living apart together: hybrid business strategies on the edge of the commons; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Hybrid strategies for software developers; 5.3 Hybrid strategies for hardware manufacturers; 5.4 Hybrid strategies for corporate users; 6. Analysis and conclusion; References; Appendix: the licenses; About the authors; Index.