Exploring the structure of complex software designs
Subtitle: an empirical study of open source and proprietary code
By: Alan MacCormack, John Rusnak, Carliss Baldwin
Edition: 2nd Rev.
Series: Working paper / Division of Research, Harvard Business School -- 05-016; Working paper (Harvard Business School. Division of Research) -- 05-016
Publisher: Division of Research, Harvard Business School
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 36
Description: This paper reports data from a study that seeks to characterize the differences in design structure between complex software products. We use Design Structure Matrices (DSMs) to map dependencies between the elements of a design and define metrics that allow us to compare the structures of different designs. We use these metrics to compare the architectures of two software products - the Linux operating system and the Mozilla web browser - that were developed via contrasting modes of organization: specifically, open source versus proprietary development.
Notes: "Revised March 2006 "--Publisher's website.

Previous rev.: 2005.

Includes bibliographical references.