Developer Motivations
Main Author: Gail Frederick
Links to Papers Regarding Developer Motivations
http://noframes.linuxjournal.com/article/4915
Interesting Quotes on Developer Motivations
Discussion on Developer Motivations
Richard Michaelson: (11/13/04) Here's a running list of supply-side explanations for individuals' (and firms') contributions to OS:
-as a hobby (“simply for the pleasure of doing so”)
-post-scarcity gift economy (which, at heart, is not based on classical economic theory, and instead, suggests an entirely non-economic explanation for human behavior)
-hacker ethics
-Lerner and Tirole’s: individuals participate only if they expect a net benefit, viewing their contribution as a means (ego-boosting, reputation, etc) to an end, which is fundamentally economic or commercial
-“scratch an itch”
-in opposition to Microsoft
-Natural outgrowth of free speech
-Open source software is more beneficial to society
-Flexibility and configurability
Note: I didn't write down in which article these reasons came up. And some of these came up multiple times in different articles. I think the first 5 are the more popular explanations for why developers drift to OS projects.