Open Source Software Development offers the first serious (and academically rigorous) study of the OSS phenomenon. The authors examine several key aspects of OSS, for example:

Definitions of OSS and Free Software, including a comprehensive guide to both OSS and non-OSS software licences.
Profiles of key OSS products, projects, companies and organisations.
Analysis of the technological motivations for OSS development, with explicit reference to the possibility of OSS addressing the "software crisis."