"Groklaw's Shawn Boyette has written an article for Groklaw on why Free Software really matters. He tells anecdotally what this MIT research paper, 'Management & Virtual Decentralised Networks: The Linux Project,' posits, that lowering barriers to entry and participation and utilizing a virtual, decentralized management structure are superior to command-and-control hierarchies when it comes to software development.
"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...'"
