Software Ecosystem: Features, Benefits and Challenges
Authors:
Joshua Jonah Vincent
Publication Type: Journal article
Journal:
ISSN Number:
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Abstract
Software Ecosystem (SECO) is a new and rapidly
evolving phenomenon in the field of software engineering. It is an
approach through which many variables can resolve complex
relationships among companies in the software industry. SECOs
are gaining importance with the advent of the Google Android,
Apple iOS, Microsoft and Salesforce.com ecosystems. It is a co-
innovation approach by developers, software organisations, and
third parties that share common interest in the development of
the software technology. There are limited researches that have
been done on SECOs hence researchers and practitioners are still
eager to elucidate this concept.
A systematic study was undertaken to present a review of software ecosystems to address the features, benefits and challenges of SECOs.
This paper showed that open source development model and innovative process development were key features of SECOs and the main challenges of SECOs were security, evolution management and infrastructure tools for fostering interaction. Finally SECOs fostered co-innovation, increased attractiveness for new players and decreased costs