Management & Virtual Decentralised Networks: The Linux Project

The MIT paper traces the history of business management structures, like bureaucracies, the assembly line, closed hierarchies, strategic alliances, economic webs, and the "learning paradigm," and then compares the open Linux-style of networked organization; virtual, decentralized collaboration with Microsoft, "the archetypical centralised model in the industry". The paper concludes that the Linux development style is superior, precisely because it favors and enables creativity and flexibility, by allowing anyone to participate, including users. Shawn writes about the role Free Software plays in making it possible to learn, so as to be able to participate.

The link address is: http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/dafermoslinux.pdf