This article, geared toward the e-business community, tries to
put Open Source development in that context. The ultimate Open
Source projects? XML and Macromedia's DreamWeaver, a closed-source
product with an open API.
"Programs generally are not totally open-source or totally
closed-source. Macromedia, for example, does a great job of
maintaining an open API in Dreamweaver that allows users to
contribute a whole range of extensions they've developed on their
own. At the same time the software includes plenty of safeguards to
protect it against outright piracy. The advantage in that strategy
is obvious: Whenever new versions of Dreamweaver are released, the
decisions about what goes or stays aren't made by a small, isolated
group of staff programmers. The decisions get made, ostensibly, by
the users who have guided the development of the application
through their contributions of code. Such a process makes for
products that become much more useful and relevant in release after
release as opposed to, say, getting an enhanced version of
Clippy."
