The Study "Protecting the Virtual Commons, Self-Organizing Open Source and Free Software Communities and Innovative Intellectual Property Regimes" by 2 technical and 1 legal scientist from the Netherlands dates back to early 2003, but offers a nice insight in the world of open source and free software. It makes good introductory reading for whomever is interested in the upcoming heated debate about the new third version of the General Public License. On 9 June 2005 Eben Moglen and Richard M. Stallman announced their intentions to create a new version. The second GPL version dates back to 1991 and hasn't been changed since.
In chapter two the authors explore why anybody would contribute software for free to the community. They cite low participation costs, and the benefits of the users direct need for a specific tool, pure joy and reputation. They also analyse the process of innovation. When normally this is done in a hierarchy, termed 'collective decision making' with a central command center, in the free software and open source community, selection is done through 'professional attention', meaning crowds of people will flock to the developers with the highest reputation. "Why is open source and free software so innovative? According to our argument, a high level of variation and emergent selection among that variety are responsible for much of the innovation. Individuals in open source and free software communities create a high level of variety, as they face hardly any restrictions."
Eben Moglen and Richard M. Stallman, GPL Version 3: Background to Adoption (09.06.2005)
http://www.fsf.org/news/gpl3.html
IT&Law nr 3, Protecting the Virtual Commons, by R. van Wendel de Joode, J.A. de Bruijn and M.J.G. van Eeten, Asser Press, The Hague (2003). Ordering information and table of contents
http://www.asserpress.nl/cata/ITlaw3/fra.htm