Competition between open-source and proprietary software: the (La)TeX case study

Alexandre Gaudeul

Industrial Organization from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The paper examines competition between two development models, proprietary and open-source (``OS''). It first defines and compares those two models and then analyzes the influence the development of one type of software has on the development of the other. The paper is based on the (La)TeX case study. In that case study, the features, users, and patterns in the development of the (La)TeX software were compared to its proprietary equivalents. The models that are presented in this paper describe some aspects of the strategic interactions between proprietary and open-source software. The paper shows that they cannot be analyzed independently; the decisions of one class of agents (OSS developers) are affected by those of the other class of agents (private entrepreneurs).

Keywords: Open source; software; proprietary software; BSD; GPL; public domain; intellectual production; licensing; patents; TeX; LaTeX (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2004-09-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-his
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 38
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpio:0409007

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