Open Sources 2.0

Chapter 21. Open Beyond Software

Sonali K. Shah

Teams of employees at firms innovate. Scientists and engineers at universities and research institutions innovate. Inventors at private labs innovate. Regular people consume. Wrong! Regular people innovate too. Users have been the source of many large and small innovations across a wide range of product classes, industries, and even scientific disciplines.

We are accustomed to thinking of firms as the primary engine of innovative activity and industrial progress. The research and development activities of most firms are based on a proprietary model; exclusive property rights provide the basis for capturing value from innovative investments, and managerial control is the basic tool for directing and coordinating innovative efforts. The proprietary model does not, however, stand alone.

The " community-based” model has generated many of the innovations we use on a daily basis. The social structure created by this model has cultivated many entrepreneurial ventures and even seeded new industries and product categories. In stark contrast to the proprietary model, the community-based model relies neither on exclusive property rights nor on hierarchical managerial control. The model is based upon the open, voluntary, and collaborative efforts of users—a term that describes enthusiasts, tinkerers, amateurs, everyday people, and even firms that derive benefit from a product or service by using it.

Open source software development is perhaps the ...