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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

How Do Software Ecosystems Co-Evolve?

A View from OpenStack and Beyond

Authors : Jose Teixeira, Sami Hyrynsalmi

Published in: Software Business

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Much research that analyzes the evolution of a software ecosystem is confined to its own boundaries. Evidence shows, however, that software ecosystems co-evolve independently with other software ecosystems. In other words, understanding the evolution of a software ecosystem requires an especially astute awareness of its competitive landscape and much consideration for other software ecosystems in related markets. A software ecosystem does not evolve in insulation but with other software ecosystems. In this research, we analyzed the OpenStack software ecosystem with a focal perspective that attempted to understand its evolution as a function of other software ecosystems. We attempted to understand and explain the evolution of OpenStack in relation to other software ecosystems in the cloud computing market. Our findings add to theoretical knowledge in software ecosystems by identifying and discussing seven different mechanisms by which software ecosystems mutually influence each other: sedimentation and embeddedness of business relationships, strategic management of the portfolio of business relationships, firms values and reputation as a partner, core technological architecture, design of the APIs, competitive replication of functionality and multi-homing. Research addressing the evolution of software ecosystem should, therefore, acknowledge that software ecosystems entangle with other software ecosystems in multiple ways, even with competing ones. A rigorous analysis of the evolution of a software ecosystem should not be solely confined to its inner boundaries.

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previous chapter Business Model Exploration for Software Defined Networks
next chapter Health Measurement of Data-Scarce Software Ecosystems: A Case Study of Apple’s ResearchKit
Footnotes
7
Please note that all figures are encoded as Scalable Vector Graphics, therefore readers can freely zoom in and zoom out for a better visualization of the networks.
 
8
Complex as it involves different programming languages, different operating systems, dozens of different hardware configurations, hundreds of firms, thousands of software developers, and over one million of lines of code.
 
11
See presentation entitled “OpenStack Co-Opetition: A View from Within” from Boris Renski (co-founder and chief marketing officer of Mirantis) presented on 04 Nov 2013 at the OpenStack summit, Hong Kong. Available on youtube at https://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​i7HXu2abNj0.
 
13
Coopetitive as firms within OpenStack cooperate and compete simultaneously. See [26, p. 6] for a relational map of competition among OpenStack firms.
 
18
A hypervisor is either a software or a hardware solution that creates, follows and runs virtual machine instances.
 
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Metadata
Title
How Do Software Ecosystems Co-Evolve?
Authors
Jose Teixeira
Sami Hyrynsalmi
Copyright Year
2017
Book
Software Business

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69190-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-69191-6

Copyright Year: 2017

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69191-6_8

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