Context: Open source software (OSS) is changing the way organizations develop, acquire, use, and commercialize software. Objective: This paper seeks to identify how organizations adopt OSS, classify the literature according to these ways of adopting OSS, and with a focus on software development evaluate the research on adoption of OSS in organizations. Method: Based on the systematic literature review method we reviewed publications from 24 journals and seven conference and workshop proceedings, published between 1998 and 2008. From a population of 24289 papers, we identified 112 papers which provide empirical evidence on how organizations actually adopt OSS. Results: We show that adopting OSS involves more than simply using OSS products. We moreover provide a classification framework consisting of six distinctly different ways in which organizations adopt OSS. This framework is used to illustrate some of the opportunities and challenges organizations meet when approaching OSS, to show that OSS can be adopted successfully in different ways, and to organize and review existing research. We find that this research does not sufficiently describe the context of the organizations studied. It is furthermore fragmented and fails to benefit fully from related research fields. Finally, we present directions for future research.

The success of software development using third party components highly depends on the ability to select a suitable component for the intended application. The evidence shows that there is limited knowledge about current industrial OTS selection practices. As a result, there is often a gap between theory and practice, and the proposed methods for supporting selection are rarely adopted in the industrial practice. This paper's goal is to investigate the actual industrial practice of component selection in order to provide an initial empirical basis that allows the reconciliation of research and industrial endeavors. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 23 employees from 20 different software-intensive companies that mostly develop web information system applications. It provides qualitative information that help to further understand these practices, and emphasize some aspects that have been overlooked by researchers. For instance, although the literature claims that component repositories are important for locating reusable components; these are hardly used in industrial practice. Instead, other resources that have not received considerable attention are used with this aim. Practices and potential market niches for software-intensive companies have been also identified. The results are valuable from both the research and the industrial perspectives as they provide a basis for formulating well-substantiated hypotheses and more effective improvement strategies.

Abstract. Is Open Source Software (OSS) undergoing a transformation to a more commercially viable form? We have performed a survey to investigate the adoption of OSS in the Norwegian software industry. The survey was based on an extensive screening of software companies, with more than 700 responses. The survey results support the transformation predicted by Fitzgerald [4]. Close to 50% of the software industry integrate OSS components into vertical solutions serving all major business sectors. In addition, more than 30% of the 95 respondents in our survey have more than 40% of their income from OSS related services or software. The extensive adoption of OSS in the software industry may be a precursor of the OSS adoption in other business sectors.

Growing attention on component-based development has inspired the development of several normative methods for selection of software components. Despite these efforts, empirical studies show only minor adoption of such methods. To understand how research can contribute to improving the selection of components we interviewed developers from 16 Norwegian software companies which integrate Open Source Software (OSS) components into their systems. We find that the selection of OSS components has a situational nature where project specific properties significantly constrain the selection's outcome, and that developers employ a 'first fit' rather than 'best fit' approach when selecting OSS components. This could explain the limited adoption of normative selection approaches and general evaluation schemas. Moreover, it motivates a shift from developing such methods and schemas towards understanding the situational nature of software selection.

Abstract. The possible benefits of open source software (OSS) have led organizations into adopting a variety of OSS products. However, the risks related to such an adoption, and how to reduce these risks, are not well understood. Based on data from interviews, a questionnaire, and workshops, this paper reports ongoing work in a multi-national telecom company. The paper has three main contributions. First, it identifies and discusses several risks related to OSS adoption. Second, it identifies steps for reducing several of these risks. Third, it shows how research can be used to increase the visibility of, and involve the employees in, ongoing OSS efforts.