Introduction

The initial contributions to the social science literature addressing the phenomenon of Libre (open-source, free) software have been directed primarily to identifying the motivations underlying the sustained and often intensive engagement of many highly skilled individuals in this non-contractual and unremunerated mode of production. That focus reflects a view that widespread voluntary participation in the creation and free distribution of economically valuable goods is something of an anomaly, at least from the viewpoint of mainstream microeconomic analysis.

A second problem that has occupied observers, and especially economists, is to uncover the explanation for the evident success of products of the Libre software mode in market competition against proprietary software – significantly on the basis not only of their lower cost but their reputedly superior quality. This quest resembles the first, in reflecting a state of surprise and puzzlement about the apparently greater efficiency that these voluntary, distributed production organizations have been able to attain vis-à-vis centrally managed, profit-driven firms that are experienced in creating “closed” software products.

Anomalies are intrinsically captivating for intellectuals of a scientific or just a puzzle-solving bent. Yet, the research attention that has been stimulated by the rapid rise of a Libre software segment of the world's software-producing activities during the 1990s owes something also to the belief that this phenomenon and its relationship to the free and open software movements could turn out to be of considerably broader social and economic significance.