NewsForge: Open Source by Osmosis

“Much has been said and written about open source software in
the past few years. So much, indeed, that one would think we would
be super-saturated with it, and ready to move on to the ‘next big
thing.’ But we have not, and do not appear to be even remotely
close to the limit of open source’s potential. It apparently cannot
be over-hyped.

“One of open source’s key benefits, which is often touted, is
that it allows corporations to leverage a massive, unpaid (by the
corporation) workforce. Thousands of developers co-create Linux,
JBOSS, Open Office, etc., with (in most cases) no direct
remuneration from their respective employers for their efforts. In
the process, companies like HP, IBM, Novell, Red Hat, and many
others are privileged to build hardware underneath or software on
top of or alongside of this great, free/open code.

“But this is just one benefit of open source for corporations,
and probably the most obvious. It is not, however, the most
interesting. Of much greater importance, to my mind, is the influx
of differing opinions and ideas open source leaks into a
corporation, be it a vendor or end-user of IT…”

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