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  • All HBS Web  (61)
    • News  (8)
    • Research  (40)
  • Faculty Publications  (18)

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  • All HBS Web  (61)
    • News  (8)
    • Research  (40)
  • Faculty Publications  (18)
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  • 2021
  • Working Paper

Hidden Software and Veiled Value Creation: Illustrations from Server Software Usage

By: Raviv Murciano-Goroff, Ran Zhuo and Shane Greenstein
How do you measure the value of a commodity that transacts at a price of zero from an economic standpoint? This study examines the potential for and extent of omission and misattribution in standard approaches to economic accounting with regards to open source... View Details
Keywords: Server Software; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Analytics and Data Science; Economics; Value Creation; Measurement and Metrics
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Murciano-Goroff, Raviv, Ran Zhuo, and Shane Greenstein. "Hidden Software and Veiled Value Creation: Illustrations from Server Software Usage." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 28738, April 2021.
  • 2018
  • Working Paper

The State of Open Source Server Software

By: Shane Greenstein and Klaus Ackermann
The study assembles new data to construct a census of worldwide web server use across the globe. We document a large concentration of investment in the United States, and a wide dispersion across scores of countries. We find tens of billions of dollars of unmeasured... View Details
Keywords: Internet; Open Source; Internet and the Web; Policy; Open Source Distribution; Internet and the Web; Global Range
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Greenstein, Shane, and Klaus Ackermann. "The State of Open Source Server Software." Working Paper, September 2018.
  • September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
  • Case

Novell: World's Largest Network Software Company

By: Richard L. Nolan
After phenomenal growth and market leadership in networking, founder and CEO Ray Noorda made a frontal assault on Microsoft's core strengths. In 1994, Noorda spend over $1.5 billion acquiring companies such as WordPerfect to combat Microsoft Word, products such as... View Details
Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competition; Internet and the Web; Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry
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Nolan, Richard L. "Novell: World's Largest Network Software Company." Harvard Business School Case 300-038, September 1999. (Revised April 2000.)
  • 24 Feb 2020
  • Research & Ideas

The Hidden Vulnerabilities of Open Source Software

Commonly used free and open source software (FOSS) is one of the most significant technological trends of the decade. After all, 80-90 percent of a typical application contains FOSS components. And that trend is only increasing with its... View Details
Keywords: by Frank Nagle and Jenny Hoffman; Computer
  • 11 Jan 2010
  • Research & Ideas

Mixing Open Source and Proprietary Software Strategies

nature of the competition is. They should also weigh the importance of user innovation for their market and the value of their complementary good. In the case of some software products, the complementary product is very important. For... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Web Services
  • 2024
  • Working Paper

Navigating Software Vulnerabilities: Eighteen Years of Evidence from Medium and Large U.S. Organizations

By: Raviv Murciano-Goroff, Ran Zhuo and Shane Greenstein
How prevalent are severe software vulnerabilities, how fast do software users respond to the availability of secure versions, and what determines the variance in the installation distribution? Using the largest dataset ever assembled on user updates, tracking server... View Details
Keywords: Cybersecurity; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Consumer Behavior
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Murciano-Goroff, Raviv, Ran Zhuo, and Shane Greenstein. "Navigating Software Vulnerabilities: Eighteen Years of Evidence from Medium and Large U.S. Organizations." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 32696, July 2024.
  • 13 Aug 2024
  • Research & Ideas

Why Companies Shouldn't Delay Software Updates—Even After CrowdStrike's Flaw

severe vulnerabilities and 130 less severe vulnerabilities. Using data from Apache, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, and other sources, the authors could track the server software used to host each... View Details
Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology; Information Technology; Computer; Web Services
  • October 2006 (Revised February 2010)
  • Case

Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell
As of 2006, Microsoft is finding that its dominant position in client and server operating systems is under attack from Linux. While Linux has only 3% of the worldwide installed base of PC operating systems, it had captured 20% of the server market by the end of 2005... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Open Source Distribution; Competitive Strategy; Applications and Software; Value; Technology Industry
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Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Jordan Mitchell. "Linux vs. Windows." Harvard Business School Case 707-465, October 2006. (Revised February 2010.)
  • September 1999 (Revised February 2004)
  • Case

WebSpective Software, Inc. (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville and Sun Ming Wong
Describes the situation at WebSpective, a software company that develops products to help companies manage the network of servers that support their Websites. Describes the use of "concept engineering" tools to interview customers, determine their needs and the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Communication Intention and Meaning; Product Development; Product Marketing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry
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Roberts, Michael J., Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville, and Sun Ming Wong. "WebSpective Software, Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 800-136, September 1999. (Revised February 2004.)
  • May 2003 (Revised October 2003)
  • Case

BEA Systems, Inc.: Constant Reinvention to Cope with Market Waves

Developed in 1995 as a specialist software vendor, BEA Systems, Inc. had already transformed itself twice from a transaction processing product company to a server application provider. By July 2002, it had become the fastest company in history to reach $1 billion in... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Business Growth and Maturation; Management Practices and Processes; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry
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Sull, Donald N., Ramiro Montealegre, and Jeannette Dale. "BEA Systems, Inc.: Constant Reinvention to Cope with Market Waves." Harvard Business School Case 803-118, May 2003. (Revised October 2003.)
  • June 2003
  • Case

IBM and Linux (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Siobhan O'Mahony and James Quinn
In the fall of 1998, Dan Frye, member of IBM's emerging technologies and business team, is trying to decide whether to forge a strategic alliance with the Linux Development Community (LDC). Just two years earlier, IBM had its first exposure to an "open source" software... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Open Source Distribution; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Cooperation; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry
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Baldwin, Carliss Y., Siobhan O'Mahony, and James Quinn. "IBM and Linux (A)." Harvard Business School Case 903-083, June 2003.
  • March 2004 (Revised June 2010)
  • Case

Akamai Technologies

By: Benjamin Edelman, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Eric J. Van den Steen
As the leading content delivery network, Akamai helps Internet companies deliver Web site content to end users with fewer delays and lower costs. Describes the strategic management challenges facing Akamai in early 2004. The company is poised to offer its next... View Details
Keywords: Digital Platforms; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure
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Edelman, Benjamin, Thomas R. Eisenmann, and Eric J. Van den Steen. "Akamai Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 804-158, March 2004. (Revised June 2010.) (request a courtesy copy.)
  • August 2018 (Revised July 2020)
  • Case

Revenue Recognition at HBP

By: Paul Healy and Siko Sikochi
In early 2014, Paul Bills, CFO of Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), sat down with David Wan, the company’s CEO, to discuss budget preparations for the coming year. Bills noted that the performance of Corporate Learning, one of HBP’s three business units, would be... View Details
Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States
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Healy, Paul, and Siko Sikochi. "Revenue Recognition at HBP." Harvard Business School Case 119-029, August 2018. (Revised July 2020.)
  • 2013
  • Working Paper

Digital Dark Matter and the Economics of Apache

By: Shane Greenstein and Frank Nagle
Researchers have long hypothesized that spillovers from government, university, and private company R&D contribute to economic growth, but these contributions may be difficult to measure when they take a non-pecuniary form. The growth of networking devices and the... View Details
Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Internet and the Web; Performance Productivity; Applications and Software; Economic Growth; Research and Development
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Greenstein, Shane, and Frank Nagle. "Digital Dark Matter and the Economics of Apache." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 19507, October 2013.
  • 2003
  • Working Paper

Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat
This paper analyzes a dynamic mixed duopoly in which a profit-maximizing competitor interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (or marginal cost), with the cumulation of output affecting their relative positions over time. The modeling effort is motivated by... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Competition; Open Source Distribution; Balance and Stability; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Duopoly and Oligopoly
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Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Pankaj Ghemawat. "Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 04-012, August 2003.
  • September 2008 (Revised August 2009)
  • Case

VMware, Inc., 2008

By: David B. Yoffie, Andrei Hagiu and Michael Slind
Paul Maritz took the helm of VMware in July 2008, just as the company confronted a radically new competitive environment. Since its founding in 1998, VMware had been the leading provider of virtualization software. Now it faced the kind of threat that every software... View Details
Keywords: History; Digital Platforms; Competition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Applications and Software; Business Strategy
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Yoffie, David B., Andrei Hagiu, and Michael Slind. "VMware, Inc., 2008." Harvard Business School Case 709-435, September 2008. (Revised August 2009.)
  • May 2014
  • Article

Digital Dark Matter and the Economic Contribution of Apache

By: Shane Greenstein and Frank Nagle
Researchers have long hypothesized that research outputs from government, university, and private company R&D contribute to economic growth, but these contributions may be difficult to measure when they take a non-pecuniary form. The growth of networking devices and... View Details
Keywords: Open Source; Apache; Economic Measurement; Digital Economics; Measurement and Metrics; Open Source Distribution; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Economic Growth; Research and Development; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States
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Greenstein, Shane, and Frank Nagle. "Digital Dark Matter and the Economic Contribution of Apache." Research Policy 43, no. 4 (May 2014): 623–631. (Lead Article.)
  • March 2017 (Revised February 2018)
  • Case

VMware and the Public Cloud

By: Raffaella Sadun and Christine Snively
In 2015, VMware, a pioneer in server and network virtualization and a member of parent company EMC’s “federation” of companies, had set its sights on becoming a leading public cloud provider. Two years prior, VMware first entered the public cloud market with its vCloud... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry
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Sadun, Raffaella, and Christine Snively. "VMware and the Public Cloud." Harvard Business School Case 717-480, March 2017. (Revised February 2018.)
  • 06 Jun 2005
  • Research & Ideas

Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?

Want to get a heated debate going among technologists? Ask them this question: Can the open source software movement defeat (or severely cripple) Microsoft in the marketplace? With little academic attention focused on this question,... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology
  • July 2004 (Revised July 2005)
  • Case

Linux in 2004

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Brian Subirana and Christina Pham
A new technology platform conceived in the early 1990s, Linux developed into a force to be reckoned with in the operating system marketplace. At first, Linux was dismissed as a renegade option used only by tech geeks. By 2004, however, Linux had exploded into the... View Details
Keywords: Competition; Open Source Distribution; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry
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Ghemawat, Pankaj, Brian Subirana, and Christina Pham. "Linux in 2004." Harvard Business School Case 705-407, July 2004. (Revised July 2005.)
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