How to Benefit From Open Source

Title: How to Benefit from Open Source

Presenter: Dirk Riehle

Institution: SAP Research, SAP Labs LLC

Abstract: Open source is changing the game of how software is built and how money is made. This talk analyzes the economics of open source software from three main perspectives: The system integrator perspective, the start-up firm perspective, and the individual software developer perspective. A focus is on the distinction between community open source and commercial open source, and how the different stakeholders use different approaches to win in the market, e.g. to gain market share or to keep a job. The dual-license strategy is explained as well as why committers to important open source software projects can expect a higher salary. The talk shows how every stakeholder can benefit and thereby explains why open source is here to stay.

Event/location: Software Engineering Today 2008 (SET 2008) in Zurich, May 6-7th 2008

Posted on

Comments

  1. Dirk Riehle Avatar

    @Rob: Good point! Thanks. I talk about it a bit when I explain the business models of software vendors and what their selling points are, i.e. the benefits for customers. But I should probably break it out and make customers a fourth stakeholder, because that’s what they are. Some of the benefits they get are obvious, like competitive software typically at a cheaper price point than competing closed source. Some are not as obvious, like a more liquid services market.

  2. Rob Avatar

    Dirk, have you looked at it from the fourth perspective? The enterprise application company?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share the Joy

Share on LinkedIn

Share by email

Share on Twitter / X

Share on WhatsApp

Featured Startups

QDAcity makes qualitative research and qualitative data analysis fun and easy.
EDITIVE makes inter- and intra-company document collaboration more effective.

Featured Projects

Making free and open data easy, safe, and reliable to use
Bringing business intelligence to engineering management
Making open source in products easy, safe, and fun to use