Switching from Open Source to Cloud Protection License: What is the impact on Community Health?

Abstract

This thesis studies companies which developed open source software but adopted cloud protection licenses, a novel type of software licenses which protect their business from competitors but potentially affect their open source communities. It addresses the practical problem of executives of the companies who miss information about the effects of the license change on the health of their community. From a scientific perspective, there is no existing research about cloud protection licenses. The thesis presents the required background information, including software licenses and commercial open source software. It considers community activity and community structure as indicators of community health and presents corresponding research. Five propositions about the impact of the license change are presented and examined using data from projects of MongoDB, Elasticsearch and Redis by creating visualizations using CHAOSS and Python scripts. First, we expect that changing the licensing terms from an open source license to a cloud protection license leads to reduced community activity. We evaluated both major types of community activity, technical activity and social activity, and could not find support for the proposition but contradicting developments in all projects. Second, we expect less individuals joining the community. Here, the decomposed time series data indicates contradicting developments in the projects of MongoDB and Redis. Third, we expect more community members leaving the community. When assessing this proposition, we found that the decomposed time series data is congruent with the proposition in the project of MongoDB. However, the data of the projects of Elasticsearch and Redis indicates no support for it. Fourth, we expect increased knowledge concentration among individuals in the community. To evaluate the knowledge concentration among community members, the onion model is applied which associates each member with a role for each quarter. The development of the shares of the onion roles within the community is analyzed, and the results contradict the proposition. Fifth, we expect increased knowledge concentration considering organizations in the community. To examine the last proposition, the proportion of contributions authored by employees of the respective company is determined for each month and the development evaluated. There is no contradicting evidence in the data and the developments in the projects are congruent with the proposition. In summary, the data indicates that the impact of a license change to a cloud protection license on community health is rather small and constrained to the concentration of knowledge in respect to organizations. Therefore, we can recommend executives to adopt a cloud protection license if it addresses the strategic needs of their companies. This thesis continued the research on the impact of choice and change of software licenses on open source communities by including cloud protection licenses and previously disregarded aspects of community structure. It relates to the Management of Technology study program by taking the perspective of companies to analyze the effects of their strategic choices on their open innovation processes. By studying the effects of a license change, it examines a problem that is located at the intersection of technology, organizations, and strategy.