An empirical study of software market share: Diversity and symbiotic relations

Abstract

With the increasing use of software products, software ecosystems have emerged. Software ecosystems not only include the same type of products, but also include other related products that they support or depend on. Software marketplace diversity and the symbiotic relations between software products are important properties of a software ecosystem. They have great impact on the popularity and evolution of a software product. This paper presents an empirical study of a software marketplace ecosystem, which is formed by operating systems, Web browsers, and Web servers: (1) Using the concept of market share entropy, we analyze the diversity of the marketplace; and, (2) Using correlation tests, we analyze the symbiotic relations between products. Based on the results of these two studies, we analyze the relation between marketplace diversity and symbiosis in a software ecosystem.