An Examination of the Use of Open Source Software Processes as a Global Software Development Solution for Commercial Software Engineering

This paper outlines the phenomenon of Inner Source software development and places it in the context of existing open source literature. Our study includes an analysis of multiple case studies of Inner Source in use in large scale global software development companies. The lessons learned from these case studies help us to contrast traditional open source principles with Inner Source principles, and we then gather these lessons, to create our preliminary framework, in order to make sense of when and how firms can adopt Inner Source. Our framework helps to make sense of the practical issues of adopting and managing Inner Source. We have highlighted the emerging trends in the Inner Source phenomenon and surrounding areas. Awareness of this may be of great benefit to researchers in the area and industrial practitioners.