Open strategies, open source strategies and the issue of value capture in the software industry

Commercial software is traditionally governed by proprietary licenses that allow usage in exchange for a fee. Since the 90’s, more and more commercial software publishers have switched to open source and hybrid licenses Open source licenses allow users to freely download, copy, modify and distribute software whereas hybrid licenses place certain restrictions on freedom. Using Teece’s concept of regime of appropriability (Teece, 1986), we highlight the strategic role of software licenses in both open and open source strategies, as well as the business models allowing open source software publishers to capture value in order to make some profits