Hello Everyone,
I focused on the incentives behind contributors wanting to contribute to open source software for free.
I chose Apache and Linux, two open source software development communities, as examples. I showed that the benefits that programmers receive from contributing to open source software outweigh the potential costs. I demonstrated the strengths of Apache and Linux, and outlined the potential threats that they face.
I discovered that there were numerous incentives for programmers to contribute to open source software for free. The majority of programmers are contributing, not for the benefit of others, but for their own person gain. The private benefits received from contributing to open source software are varied and ranked differently in importance, according to the individual. Three key motivations behind programmers contributing to open source software include: The direct benefit from the software code that they develop, because they intend to use it themselves, the enjoyment of programming and the enhanced reputation that they can gain from their peers from making high-quality contributions. Regardless of the incentive, it is evident that open source software programmes such as Apache and Linux are here to stay.
