Open source has become an integral part of commercial software development. Whereas in the past, open source software development was considered to be driven by volunteer effort, today most of it is carried out by companies. How companies leverage open source ranges from the adoption of open source development practices, the use of open source development tools, and the integration of open source components into products to active contributions to existing open source projects, and the initiation of their own company-led open source projects. Open source furthermore enables companies to collaborate on the creation of common assets that they can jointly use in product development.

 

This talk will focus on open source businesses. An open source business is a business built around an open source offer. Open source is used by the business as a strategy to strengthen its business model. In this talk we will present common patterns followed by open source businesses. Patterns are proven solutions to common problems, and have been popular in the fields of architecture and software design. More recently, they have also been used to document business strategies. The patterns in this talk aim to provide entrepreneurs, managers, and students of business models with a language for creating new business models around open source, and for incorporating open source into existing business models.

 

Michael Weiss is an Associate Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University, and a faculty member in the Technology Innovation Management program. His research interests include open source, ecosystems, and business patterns.