That's in part because the open-source software business is harder than it looks.
In addition, it is arriving at a time in which some of the traditional advantages of open source-based business models have eroded because of cloud computing and other developments.
If someone takes the open-source plan and starts a business around making these, it just means more users of our software.
At the same time it's suing SAP, Oracle has been trying to undercut the support business of open-source software company Red Hat (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ).
Open-source programming is more like academic work than business.
Just as cheap personal computers undermined the mainframe business in the 1980s and open-source programs like Linux and Mysql are challenging Microsoft and Oracle today, outfits like Fastcase are attacking Wexis' stranglehold on legal research from the bottom up.
Most of the firms peddling this model, such as Amazon and Google, use open-source software, since having to pay licensing fees would make the business unprofitable.
ECONOMIST: Open-source software in the recession: Born free | The
Open-source firms are flourishing in databases (Ingres, for instance), business intelligence (JasperSoft), customer-relationship management and other business applications (SugarCRM, Alfresco).
ECONOMIST: Open-source software in the recession: Born free | The
The two founders of CoderDojo are just as inspirational, 20-year old James Wheltan and his business partner, Bill Liao created the open source coding movement out of nothing except a belief that learning, especially programming, should be free and open, oh and the world needs more programmers.
The firm says that, although it is not very familiar with open-source approaches in the life sciences, the technology seems to complement, not threaten, its business model.
应用推荐