How do we calculate the "value" of .NET OSS Projects?

[SeanKilleen]

To accomplish #1, I think we'll want to try to get to a unit of value for OSS software. Obviously, we'll only ever get into ballpark range, but if we could get to any sort of standard comparison, we could help calculate a sort of standard measure of what companies should reasonably give back.

As a community, we're well aware that the research and the brainpower that goes into OSS goes far beyond lines of code or number of hours, and I think we should attempt to account for that as well.

What I want to try to figure out is some sort of number of cost or dev-hours for a project based upon:

• Number of contributors
• Business value provided (time saved)
• Use throughout a given codebase (e.g. is it a whole framework? Is it a small utility?)
• What it would take for another team to replicate the project @ a company's current rate for devs
• etc.

The only methodology I've seen so far is COCOMO, and my understanding is that it's universally known to be not so great.

Thoughts on how we can get there?

[SeanKilleen]

Great comment from @adron via Twitter:

Including the management interruptions & other errata that would take place on a non-OSS project that isn't self-organizing?

I think this is an awesome point and that we could make it well. OSS relieves a lot of the overhead involved in most companies' development processes, and self-organization a big key to that.

(similarly, I see those aspects of the OSS discipline as things that could be highly beneficial to businesses who adopt them. So this could also apply to #11 OR #6 as well.

[Adron]

+1