[iDC] First Monday: The Protestant ethic strikes back

[Ulises]

The Protestant ethic strikes back: Open source developers and the ethic
of capitalism 
by Teemu Mikkonen, Tere Vadén, and Niklas Vainio

First Monday, volume 12, number 2 (February 2007),
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_2/mikkonen/index.html



Free/Open
Source software development has initiated new models and theories of
social organization and immaterial labor in terms of a “hacker”
culture. However, our survey of four developer communities shows that
there is a continuum of communities from voluntary communities,
corresponding to the “hacker” image, to more business-oriented
communities deviating from the image. It is particularly noteworthy
that old and familiar modes of organization based on waged labor are
increasingly a part of developer communities. This may create new
dynamics and tensions both inside communities and between the various
partners taking part in Free/Open Source software development projects.