Glossary

Contributor:

They contribute in some form to the OSS project. Contributors obtain private benefits from the development of shared assets that are not available to free riders, who only use the asset.

Developer:

They contribute to OSS projects code for the personal gratification that comes from increasing their reputation among peers. They are primarily volunteers.

Entropy:

As a system is modified its disorder or entropy always increase. This is known as software entropy.

Gini Index:

It is a standard economic measure of income inequality, based on Lorenz Curve. A society that scores 0.0 on the Gini scale has perfect equality in income distribution. Higher the number over 0 higher the inequality, and the score of 1.0

Keystone actor:

It is an actor in the ecosystem, whose contribution to the ecosystem stimulates the health of the entire ecosystem .

Niche:

The software ecosystem niche in which a given OSSECO lies. The software supply networks that reveal which software ecosystem instances (or niches) each system exists within.

OSSECO Health :

It is the OSSECO longevity and a propensity for growth

OSSECO:

Open Source Software Ecosystem, it is a software ecosystem placed in a heterogeneous environment, whose boundary is a set of niche players and whose keystone player is an OSS community around a set of projects in an open-common platform.

OSSECO-Community :

It is a social ecosystem on its own and in junction with other OSS communities. However, it differs from other social networks in its hierarchical structure . Set of individual and shared resources of people’s time, effort, attention, skill, sentiment(beliefs and values), and computing resources are part of the socio-technical web of FOSS.

OSSECO Project :

OSS projects are typical environments in which SECOs develop around the community.

OSSECO-sub Communities:

This OSS community may be subdivided in (possibly overlapping) sub-communities. For example, one can distinguish between the user community, containing all individuals who use an executable version of the software system, and the developer community, containing all individuals who are in charge of maintaining and improving this software system over time.

Partner:

There are naturally business partners, industrial partners and similar interest groups participating outside the range of the model that are an integral part of an OSSECO.

Passive users :

Passive users are all remaining users who just use the system.

Repository:

It is a system which keeps and manages source codes.

Social Network:

It is a network derived from the data sources of an OSS project.

Software Ecosystem:

It is a set of businesses functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with the relationships among them. These relationships are frequently under-pinned by a common technological platform or market and operate through the exchange of information, resources and artifacts

Perceived usefulness:

The degree to which the subject considers that the evaluation process is effective in achieving its intended objectives.