Open Source Business Models in Practice: A Survey of Commercial Open Source Introduction

Open Source Software development has evolved from being an underground movement for hackers, to become a phenomenon interesting to commercial organizations. The possibility to control the code, avoid vendor lock-in and accomplish cost savings makes open source software attractive. This paper includes a survey of ten organizations relating to open source software in different ways. The study resulted in documentation and analysis of the applicable business models, along with the gains and risks associated with open source software use and development. To succeed, some prerequisites need to be fulfilled. A clear strategy is needed and a role concept must be defined in order to assign tasks and responsibilities. There must also be a strong advocate to support the project and support from management is crucial. In addition to this it is important to know how to cooperate with the open source community.

Referent:

Anna Andersson and Karin Hässler
Department of Communication Systems
Lund Institute of Technology
Lund University
Tunavägen 39G:622, 223
63 Lund