CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTIO

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

With the growth in technology, there have kind of advancement in software development.

Innovation through an open source model has proven to be successful for software development. Well-known examples such as the Linux operating system and Apache web server have demonstrated that open source methods can create market leaders (King. B. Apache, 2005). This success has led many to speculate if open source can be applied to other industries with similar success. The ingredients of open source generally deemed attractive for transfer are the collaborative nature of development and the open access to the intellectual property.

Open source software (OSS) communities are an important type of virtual community today, where members convene online with the common goal of producing software that is valuable both to developers and for the general public using the open source software development (OSSD) methodology. This movement of 20 years or so has drawn increasing attention in organizations of all sizes commercial, non-commercial, and governmental and even with individual consumers as high-quality consumer-oriented OSS products have emerged. OSS communities have distinctive cultural artifacts, including community norms, values, and beliefs.

As the open source movement continues to grow both as a software development methodology and as a philosophical/social/political approach to intellectual property, OSS communities are having an increasingly important role in the software industry, and on the society at large that uses software. The study in this regard wishes to examine the impact of open source movement on software development using Nigeria as the case study.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

What really instigated the study on open source movement on software development was due to the rate of piracy in software development. There is no doubt that open source software plays a significant role in software development, software users ability but there have been some lapses in the areas of security and safety of the software.

        Secondly there have research on open source movement but none of the study has carried a research on open source movement on software development in Nigeria.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The main aim of the research work is to determine the impact of open source movement on software development. Other specific objectives of the study include:

1.  To determine the effect of open source software on the developers

2.  To determine the effect of open source software on the society

3.  To examine the relationship between the use of open source software and the organizational performance

4.  To determine the effect of open source software on the users

5.  To proffer solution to the above stated problems

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives of the study. The research questions are stated below as follows:

1.  What is the effect of open source software on the developers?

2.  What is the effect of open source software on the society?

3.  What is the relationship between the use of open source software and the organizational performance?

4.  What is the effect of open source software on the users?

1.5 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: Open source software has no significant effect on the developers

H1: Open source software has significant effect on the developers

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study on open source movement on software development will be of immense benefit to all the software developers in Nigeria, the federal government of Nigeria, the users of the software, the society and other researchers that wishes to carry out similar research on the above topic as it will examine the effect of open source software on users, organization, societies and the developers of the software. The study finally will contribute to the body of the existing literature on open source movement on software development in Nigeria.

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

The study on open source movement on software development is limited to software developers, software users, organizations and the Nigeria societies. The study will cover the effect of open source software on users, organization, societies and the developers of the software

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE: Open-source software (OSS) is computer software distributed with its source code available for modification.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER:  is a person concerned with facets of the software development process, including the research, design, programming, and testing of computer software

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