A recent change in the software landscape involves the introduction of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). FOSS offers freedom to access and enhance software source code at low or free cost, thereby demonstrating high potential to enhance the impact of ICT in the society. However, the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and some other higher education institutions in South Africa are y...

Despite the growing body of research on the inner workings of FOSS development, there are few studies on its relation with broader developments in society. In this study we have attempted a preliminary investigation of (1) how FOSS prevalence is related to economic and human development indicators of countries, (2) whether public policies regarding FOSS emerge in a consistent relation with thes...

FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) systems present interesting challenges in system evolution. On one hand, most FOSS systems are based on very fine-grained units of software deployment—called packages—which promote system evolution; on the other hand, FOSS systems are among the largest software systems known and require sophisticated static and dynamic conditions to be verified, in order to ...

This paper reports the preliminary results of a study conducted to assess and quantify the adoption of Free/ Open Source Software (FOSS) by organisations and enterprises. While almost all organisations use FOSS in some form today, there is a wide variation in the manner and extent to which they do so, and presently no quantitative measure exists that can capture the true picture. The present wo...

The volume is structured along 5 parts, some containing cohesive sets of articles, some loosely related ones. The three chapters that make up part 1 report on attempts to explain the FOSS phenomenon from the perspective of the psychology and sociology of its main actors. In particular, these articles try to explain what leads FOSS developers not to sell the software they create, but rather rega...

PURPOSE This guidance is intended to raise awareness within the financial services industry of risks and risk management practices applicable to the use of free and open source software (FOSS).[See Footnote 1] For the purpose of this guidance, FOSS refers to software that users are allowed to run, study, modify, and redistribute without paying a licensing fee. Access to source code is a pre-req...

Zhe-Xuan Gong,1, 2 Michael Foss-Feig,3 Fernando G. S. L. Brandão,4 and Alexey V. Gorshkov1, 2 Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA United States Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA IQIM, California Institute of ...

Amidst the debate about what sort of technology is appropriate for achieving sustainable development, Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) offers some solutions to today's technology problems for many developing countries. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence to help us understand the potentials FOSS technologies have for small businesses in SubSaharan Africa. This research utilize...

Free/Libre and Open Source Software projects (FOSS) are a form of Internet­based commons. Since 1968, when Garrett Hardin published his famous article “Tragedy of the Commons” in the journal Science, there has been significant interest in understanding how to manage commons appropriately, particularly in environmental fields. An important distinction between natural resource commons and FOSS co...

PURPOSE This guidance is intended to raise awareness within the financial services industry of risks and risk management practices applicable to the use of free and open source software (FOSS). For the purpose of this guidance, FOSS refers to software that users are allowed to run, study, modify, and redistribute without paying a licensing fee. Access to source code is a pre-requisite to the us...