Customer Reviews

The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development

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The Comingled Code is a thoroughly researched and documented econometric analysis of the global Open Source market. Having read the book, it's clear to me that it is a well-written and thoughtful academic study, though definitely not geared towards the casual business or technical reader (i.e. it's not an "easy read").

As someone whose company is part of the Open Source community, and who has competed with Microsoft for most of my career, I have no love for the Evil Empire. Yet I saw absolutely no indication that The Comingled Code was anything but what it claimed to be, an objective, fact-based analysis of an important segment of the software industry, "characterized by intellectual independence and analytical rigor."

There have been allegations of a pro-Microsoft bias (due to Microsoft funding of the study as an attempt to promote a "less ideological discussion of the pros and cons of software choices...") by some people who may not have had a chance to read the book. From my perspective, none of the book's conclusions were either surprising or based on anything other than statistically valid data that could be independently analyzed by those who make claims of bias, should they choose to do so. I don't know and have never interacted in any way with the authors (professors at Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics), but I find it it's extremely unlikely that they would risk their careers and professional reputations to slant their conclusions based on any particular funding source.

In fact, I'd call your attention to the top of page 58, which contains the following quote (which I absolutely love!):

"[I]n every release cycle Microsoft always listens to its most ignorant customers. This is the key to dumbing down each release cycle of software for further assaulting the non-personal-computing population. Linux and OS/2 developers, on the other hand, tend to listen to their smartest customers... The good that Microsoft does in bringing computers to non-users is outdone by the curse that they bring on experienced users. (Nadeau 1999)"

It would take the most committed conspiracy theorist to believe that Microsoft funded this research and then manipulated the results in order to drive that kind of message in print.

The Comingled Code is an important book that goes beyond emotional arguments to provide data and insight into the reality of the Open Source industry. It's a valuable contribution to the field, though an extremely challenging "read" for even the most committed readers.

According to techrights: "Microsoft had paid Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman, who in turn produced literature which echoes Microsoft lobbyists and gives those lobbyists something academic to cite later." Dr. Glyn Moody, on computerworlduk, is also very critical of this study. You may want to see the blog article titled "There's No FUD Like an Old FUD."