A Licensing and Business Model for Sharing Source Code with Clients-Leveraging Open Client Innovation in the Proprietary World

摘要

While the pure-form open source model has been in the focus of much information systems research recently, research is lacking on truly hybrid software licensing models that combine limited openness of source code with traditional value appropriation logic. Yet such boundedly open models are implied by open innovation literature and by the recent emphasis on client involvement therein. The further amalgamation of traditional proprietary software licensing with open source licensing can be rationalised through commodifica-tion of software, shift from products to services, the viability of the pure-form open source model, and the continuing need for better operational efficiency. After reviewing other hybrid-OSS models, a very practical hybrid licensing model is presented that responds to the need of software vendors in various vertical domains. Its benefits and limitations are discussed, and it is positioned relative to the value co-production (co-creation) literature. A set of research questions are raised to the information systems research agenda.