The Role of OSS in Development of Software Industry in Developing Countries with Weak Intellectual Property Rights

One of the areas of significant importance in the growth of Information Technology (IT) in the world is the issue of open source software. The movement of open source software has led to considerable advancement and transformation in the world's IT industry. It is considered as one of the hotly-debated issues today. In Iran, open source software has recently received remarkable attention due to its many advantages. In this study, the problems of software industry in Iran, the opportunities created by using open source software, and the impacts and advantages of producing local open source operating system have been addressed through semi-structured interviews with the producers of local operating system and experts of open source software. Solving security problems, attending international markets, creating the spirit of cooperation and team work and flourishing the software business are some of the main impacts of producing open source software in Iran.