Open source software products provide access to the source code (or basic instructions) in addition to executable programs, and allow for this source code to be modified and redistributed. This freedom is a rarity in an industry where software makers ...
Open source software products provide access to the source code (or basic instructions) in addition to executable programs, and allow for this source code to be modified and redistributed. This freedom is a rarity in an industry where software makers carefully guard the source code as intellectual property. In making the source code freely available, a large number of developers are able to work on the product. All software companies exist to make maximum profits. Therefore, it is common for these corporations to seek out new ways of generating revenues and reducing costs. Increasingly, companies are using open source as a business strategy to achieve both these objectives. In this paper, our focus is on explicating the different business models that we see in the open-source arena.