| Abstract: | 國內外近年來關於自由軟體或開放原始碼軟體相當多，惟大部分之文獻均著重於開放原始碼軟體本身之內在發展意涵，如社群組織、授權條款、創作誘因及智慧財產權規範對於該等軟體發展之影響等，甚少文獻有討論開放原始碼運動對當今社會所造成之影響。本研究即以中國大陸的公部門為例，探討開放原始碼運動實際對特定政府政策之影響。中國大陸係當今全球最大的軟體市場，惟其軟體盜版之猖獗情狀亦引起國際間高度關注，中國政府希望藉由開放原始碼的引進，來降低其軟體盜版率，其成效如何，應屬一重要的政策問題，惟目前尚未有研究探討之。此外，包括台灣、德國、美國等許多國家也均有不同之支持開放原始碼軟體政策，中國之例子，或可為其他國家提供參考借鏡。此外，開放原始碼軟體當今已成為一跨領域研究議題，法律學、經濟學、政治學、社會學、資訊工程及企業管理相關領域的學者都開始投入開放原始碼軟體的相關研究，諸如開放原始碼的分散式資訊生產模式已成為近十年來網際網路與資訊科技相關研究之焦點所在，亦有許多學者開始運用不同的社會科學理論，解釋該等分散式資訊生產模式，本研究之另一目的，即在於以發展數十年的廠商理論與非營利組織理論，解釋如同開放原始碼之分散式資訊生產方式，一方面將既有理論運用於一全新場域，另一方面亦可檢驗該等理論在數位環境中之侷限性或完整性。在非營利組織的部分，本研究另一觀察重點係推動自由軟體之相關非營利組織，本文主張該等組織為共享資訊的生產提供了不可或缺的基礎結構，而該等結構迥異於支持專屬資訊生產的其他社會結構。藉由提升共享資訊的生產、接近使用、可搜尋性以及受保護的程度，非營利組織對當今社會提供了重要的公共財，並發揮了政府及營利組織無法發揮的社會功能。本研究並主張，資訊共享環境的特質與非營利組織的特質具有特殊的契合性，換言之，相較於政府及營利組織，非營利組織更適合在資訊共享環境中生長、茁壯。
The development of free or open source software (F/OSS) has drawn intense attention and has become a significant social movement in current information society. Nevertheless, most literature focuses on F/OSS‘s impact on the proprietary businesses, rather than on governments and nonprofit organizations. Nevertheless, the later two types of institutional form have important links to the development of F/OSS, which will be the focus of this project. Regarding F/OSS‘s impact on the public sector, This study uses China as an example to illustrate the policy complexities associated with F/OSS and F/OSS’s social impact on the public sector. This study found that China‘s F/OSS policy has not eliminated the widespread copyright infringement in the country. Possible explanations for this fact include the substitutability of the software product, consumer‘s habit and attitude, switching costs, and etc. Moreover, the country‘s F/OSS policy may not create the expected positive externalities in the domestic software industry and education. Another focus of this project is the role of nonprofit organizations in the commons economy, such as F/OSS ecology. By organizing effective institutional arrangements to enhance the production, access, use, search-ability, and preservation of diverse intellectual commons, various nonprofit organizations have emerged to perform public functions in public-goods provision, and, perhaps more importantly, their influence sometimes extends beyond the market firm and the state agency. These organizations have unique features enabling them to serve important social aims that neither the private sector nor the government can adequately fulfill. Therefore, I argue that nonprofit organizations have provided the social structures that are necessary to support the production of intellectual commons, and yet differ from the structures supporting the production of proprietary information. I propose that the intellectual-commons environment has provided an ’environmental niche’ in which nonprofit organizations thrive. That is, the nature of nonprofit organizations is more consistent with commons-environment culture than that characteristic of for-profits or the government. |
