The Business of Open Source

The January issue of the OSBR is now available in PDF and HTML formats. The editorial theme for this issue is The Business of Open Source and the Guest Editor is Michael Weiss, Associate Professor in the Technology Innovation Management program at Carleton University. In this issue, we have the following articles:

Mark VonFange, Professional Services Manager at iXsystems, and Dru Lavigne, Director of Community Development for the PC-BSD Project, provide evidence of the increasing use of open source solutions in enterprise IT infrastructures. With its advancements in availability, usability, functionality, choice, and power, free/libre open source software (F/LOSS) provides a cost-effective means for the modern enterprise to streamline its operations. The article quantifies the benefits associated with the use of open source software.

Ian Skerrett, Director of Marketing at the Eclipse Foundation, identifies five best practices for multi-vendor open source communities. Multi-vendor open source communities such as Eclipse, Apache, or Linux enable companies to lower development costs and gain access to wider addressable markets. The article also discusses the importance of foundations in implementing multi-vendor open source communities.

Michael Ayukawa, Mohammed Al-Sanabani, and Adefemi Debo-Omidoku explore the relationship between companies and open source communities. The article identifies the ways in which companies can participate in open source communities and how they can benefit from engaging with the community. It also asks how open a company should be.

Ali Kousari and Chris Henselmans weigh the benefits and risks of companies moving from a private to a private-collective innovation model. In this model, a company collaborates with other companies by making its project public and, in turn, may benefit from higher-quality, decreased time to market, and maximized revenue.

Robert Poole discusses how companies that rely on open source may fear losing control over the execution of their product development strategy. Understanding the mechanisms of control inherent in open source projects and the benefits of hybrid approaches helps companies articulate those fears and make appropriate strategic decisions to match their business objectives.

John Schreuders, Arthur Low, Kenneth Esprit, and Nerva Joachim present Nokia’s Qt product (initially developed by Trolltech) as an example of a hybrid business model. They illustrate how the hybrid approach was implemented and the extent to which the approach has been effective for Nokia. The Qt story illustrates how F/LOSS business models were developed during a period when participants were just beginning to understand how to make money with open source.

The editorial theme for the upcoming February 2011 issue of the OSBR is Recent Research and submissions will be accepted up to January 15th.

For the March issue, we have invited authors from the Research Forum to Understand Business in Knowledge Society to contribute to a special issue on Co-creation. The Guest Editors will be Stoyan Tanev from the University of Southern Denmark and Marko Seppä from the University of Jyväskylä.

For subsequent issues, we welcome general submissions on the topic of open source business or the growth of early-stage technology companies. Please contact the Editor, Chris McPhee, if you are interested in making a submission.