Wasserman –   Commercial  Open  Source Community and Commercial Strategies in Open Source Software

This paper describes the recent evolution of business strategies used by companies offering products and services based on free and open source software (FOSS). The primary focus is on companies that develop and release products under an open source license. The paper compares their practices with traditional proprietary software companies and with community-based open source projects, and identifies growing overlaps between the different kinds of software companies. Finally, the paper describes the likely impact of recent technology developments in mobile and cloud computing on open source software and related business. 1 Commercial and FOSS Software: a Brief Overview The commercial software industry dates to the mid-1960’s, when software was first sold independently of the computer on which it ran. The dominant sales model for this enterprise software has been an initial fee that includes a commercial license to use the software. Customers have the option of buying product support, typically at an annual price of 15-20 % of the original list price, that entitles them to regular updates and personalized technical support [1]. These software companies also sell professional services, including training, product customization, and product integration (“the full product”). While they may have a network of consultants, distributors, and resellers