Innovation in open source software development: A tale of two features

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Open Source Software Development appears to depart radically from conventional notions of software engineering. In particular, requirements for Open Source projects seem to be asserted rather than elicited. This paper examines two features of selected open source products: "tabbed browsing" as realized in the Firefox web browser, and "edge magnetism" found in the Gnome desktop environment's Metacity window manager. Using archives of mailing lists and issue tracking databases, these features were traced from first mention to release, in attempt to discover the process by which requirements are proposed, adopted, and implemented in their respective Open Source projects. The results confirm the importance of user participation in Open Source projects.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOpen Source Development, Adoption and Innovation
Subtitle of host publicationIFIP Working Group 2.13 on Open Source Software, June 11-14, 2007, Limerick, Ireland
EditorsJoseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Walt Scacchi, Alberto Sillitti
Pages109-120
Number of pages12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameIFIP International Federation for Information Processing
Volume234
ISSN (Print)1571-5736

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