opensource economics

"Open source software projects and products are an exciting example of complete innovation development and consumption communities run by and for users, no manufacturer required.

[..] What is very important is that innovation communities exclusively by and for users work well enough to create and sustain complex innovation products without any manifacturer involvement.
This means that, in at least some and probably many important fields, users can build and consume and support innovations on their own, indipendently of manufacturer incentives to partecipate.

The user innovation community phenomenon is growing - and appears to be on solid [ classical ] economic foundations. We shall all see where it leads."

Eric von Hippel, Open Source Software: innovation by and for users - no manufacturer required