Author: Dirk Riehle
-

When did @GLS_Ireland lose my parcel?
When? Well: Right after picking it up. The only funny thing is that it took GLS two months to pick it up in the first place. In a nutshell, I ordered pick-up of a parcel at a warehouse in Ireland and shipment to Germany. However, GLS was unable to pick-up the parcel. I got various…
-
![Why do episodic volunteers stay in FLOSS communities? [ICSE 2019]](https://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/featured/10231-singapore-marina-bay-sands-night-vision-300x150.jpg)
Why do episodic volunteers stay in FLOSS communities? [ICSE 2019]
Abstract: Successful Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects incorporate both habitual and infrequent, or episodic, contributors. Using the concept of episodic volunteering (EV) from the general volunteering literature, we derive a model consisting of five key constructs that we hypothesize affect episodic volunteers’ retention in FLOSS communities. To evaluate the model we conducted a…
-

Should a public government stay out of the software market? 4/4
This is the last of four questions posed to me by a journalist about open source and the public sector. The original question was: If a government develops open source software, it becomes a vendor of that software. Shouldn’t a public government stay out of such business? A public government that develops or sponsors the…
-

Should the public sector consider open source only for new purchases? 3/4
This is the third of four questions posed to me by a journalist about open source and the public sector. The economists have an answer for this. At any point in time should you evaluate the total life-time value of the various alternatives at hand and then chose the one that has the best value.…
-

Why did Munich drop Linux and LibreOffice for Microsoft Windows and Office? 2/4
This is the second of four questions posed to me by a journalist about open source and the public sector. I was not involved with the Munich decision at all, so I can only speculate and provide the usual reasons that have been reported about why such failures happen. First of all, it is nothing…
-

Should The Public Sector Use Open Source Software? 1/4
I was asked several questions by a journalist about open source and the public sector. I’m answering them here in sequence. This is the first of four blog posts and the first question was: Should the public sector use open source software? The public sector and public governments should use the software that lets them…



