Avoided Costs and Competitive Benefits: Estimating the Value of Linux

"Even the question itself is a bit of a misnomer, because one measure of the value of FOSS is not the cost to build it, but rather the avoided cost of not having to do so. Because you don't have to pay anything to download FOSS (maintenance costs are a related but distinct issue), using it can allow you to do things that you would never otherwise attempt for economic reasons. In an effect that's near and dear to my heart, that means that competition can reenter market niches that had become locked up and stagnant because entry costs to new participants were simply too high."
Slashdot got it all wrong; get the real story here--ed.

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