We seek to establish and sustain an agenda for a national program for research on free/open source software (FOSS, or sometimes FLOSS) by academic and industrial researchers in different disciplines. This proposal describes our vision for such a research agenda, along with the international workshop and supporting meetings we propose to conduct in order to develop the agenda to guide future res...

It is a widely held belief that Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) development leads to the creation of software with the same, if not higher quality compared to that created using proprietary software development models. However there is little research on evaluating the quality of FOSS code, and the impact of project characteristics such as age, number of core developers, code-base size, etc. I...

One of the aspects of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) which may act as a significant deterrent to its adoption, is the method used to collaboratively develop the software and provide support through the use of communities. It is not until this method is examined more closely that its many advantages can be realised. The method can, however, seem very disorganised especially when compared w...

Through a case study of health information system in Zanzibar, Tanzania, the article discusses adoption of free and open source software (FOSS) through strategic transition from a free Microsoft based application to a fullfledged java based FOSS application. Throughout the article, the adoption challenges and opportunities are discussed. The article contributes to approaches to FOSS adoption. T...

The Foss NIRSystem 6500 is one of the most commonly used laboratory instruments in agriculture and in particular in feed. New technological developments include micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) technology, used in miniature handheld instruments such as the Polychromix Phazir spectrometer that are increasingly required for on-site analysis. The objective of this study was to assess the pot...

DENIS DENISOV, SERGUEI FOSS and DMITRY KORSHUNOV Eurandom, P.O. Box 513 – 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands. School of MACS, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, 4 Koptyuga pr., Novosibirsk 630090, Russia. E-mail: [email protected] Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova str., Novosibirsk 630090, Ru...

DENIS DENISOV1,2,* , SERGUEI FOSS2,3,**,† and DMITRY KORSHUNOV3,‡ 1School of Mathematics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4AG, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 2School of MACS, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. E-mail: *[email protected]; **[email protected] 3Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, 4 Koptyuga pr., Novosibirsk 630090, Russia. E-mail: †[email protected]; ‡Korshunov@m...

This paper describes the recent evolution of business strategies used by companies offering products and services based on free and open source software (FOSS). The primary focus is on companies that develop and release products under an open source license. The paper compares their practices with traditional proprietary software companies and with community-based open source projects, and iden...

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Development has evoked images of full participation, emancipation and flat organization. Despite such rhetoric, some recent studies and practices reveal the reemergence of hierarchical structures in one form or another as an almost inevitable aspect of the software development process. The objective of this paper is to investigate, both theoretically and emp...