Prerequisites, effects and opportunities of Internet-distributed software development

摘要

Th rapid growth of the number of its users makes the Internet a promising opportunity as far as business-to-customer relations are concerned. Commercial Internet use was started by information technology related enterprises advertising their products. Nowadays, both products and services are advertised. To date, a variety of businesses are present on the Internet. Corresponding examples for the service industry are travel agencies, consulting firms, insurance companies, and law firms. Beyond making use of the Internet for the sale of products and services there is an opportunity of a completely different nature. If regarded as a means of production, the Internet could be used as a distributed development platform for software products. This paper outlines a new form of software development and focuses on its economic impacts. Furthermore, the results of an Internet questionnaire are presented.