“Open-source software is a defining topic on this year’s
enterprise IT agenda. Its most ardent proponents promise that
open-source efforts will deliver standard platforms, lower costs,
productive innovation and improved product reliability. The
fulfillment of the promise depends on whether vendors accept the
logic behind the open-source efforts.
“Vendors are eager to acquire the halo effect of combining their
names with the phrase “open source.” The value of their
pronouncements ranges from substantial to meaningless, depending on
whether vendors are ready to discard–or at least
question–long-held beliefs about the role of intellectual property
as an asset…”