The Magic Cauldron (essay) explained

"The Magic Cauldron" is an essay by Eric S. Raymond on the open-source economic model.^[1] It can be read freely online and was published in his 1999 book, The Cathedral and the Bazaar.^[2]

Contents

The essay analyzes the economic models that Raymond believes can sustain an open-source project in four steps:^[3]

• It first analyzes what the author sees as classical myths about the cost refund in software development and tries to present a game-theory based model of the supposed stability of open-source cooperation.
• Secondly, it presents nine theoretical models that would work for sustainable open-source development: two non-profit, seven for-profit.
• Thirdly it states a theory to decide when it is economically interesting for software to remain closed.
• Finally, it examines some mechanisms that, according to Raymond, the market invented to fund for-profit open-source development (like patronage system and task markets).^[4]

Publication

• Book: Raymond, Eric S.. Eric S. Raymond

. Eric S. Raymond. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. O'Reilly. 2001. Paperback. The Magic Cauldron . 978-0-596-00108-7. http://oreilly.com/catalog/cathbazpaper/chapter/ch05.html. The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

• Web site: The Magic Cauldron . Raymond . Eric S. . Eric S. Raymond . 6 November 1999 . 21 March 2016.

See also

• Revenge of the Hackers

External links

• Web site: The Magic Cauldron. Raymond. Eric S.. Eric S. Raymond. The Cathedral and the Bazaar . catb.org. 2009-10-14.

Notes and References

1. • Book: Himma. Kenneth Einar Himma. Kenneth E.. Tavani. Herman T.. The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. 2008. Wiley-Interscience. 978-0471799597. 261–263.
   • News: Informationweek, Issues 742-750. 19 March 2014. InformationWeek (p 75). 1999.
   • Book: Brian Jepson, Joan Peckham, Ram Sadasiv. Database application programming with Linux. 2000. John Wiley. 9780471355496. 143.
   • Fuggetta. Alfonso. Open source software––an evaluation. Journal of Systems and Software. 2003. 66. 1. 85. 10.1016/S0164-1212(02)00065-1. 10.1.1.107.9214.
2. Baldwin. Carliss Y. Kim Clark . The Architecture of Participation: Does Code Architecture Mitigate Free Riding in the Open Source Development Model?. Management Science. Jul 2006. 52. 7. 1125. 10.1287/mnsc.1060.0546 .
3. • Book: Samir Chopra, Scott D. Dexter. Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software. 2007. Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture. 978-0415978934. 21–23.
   • Carmichael. Patrick. Leslie Honour . Open Source as appropriate technology for global education. International Journal of Educational Development. January 2002. 22. 1. 50. 10.1016/S0738-0593(00)00077-8.
4. Bruns. Bryan. Open sourcing nanotechnology research and development: issues and opportunities. Nanotechnology. 2001. 12. 3. 198–210. 10.1088/0957-4484/12/3/303. 250853490 .