Enterprise code closes to find profit from open code

Many large IT companies exist based on proprietary products such as Oracle, IBM and Sun investing billions of dollars for open source. This is a sign that software development and business strategies have fundamentally changed.

As if to show that it is completely 'sincere' with open source, IBM announced it would invest $ 1 billion in the development and promotion of Linux operating systems.

So why do monopoly firms pay much attention to open source software (OSS)? The answer is simple: for profit. But the way to invest in OSS to lead to the destination is that capital is not as straightforward as many people believe. Companies must determine how many percent of their proprietary products will be coded and OSS models will play a major or secondary role in the business plan .

' In a complex environment and there are so many connected products and services like OSS, the development strategy becomes' art that affects what we don't own'. Simply put, it is the model of the link between razors and blades, in which IBM and Linux will be razors, and WebSphere software and related services act as blades ', Marco Iansiti, lecturer Harvard economics school, explained.

Iansiti divided OSS projects into 'for financial' and 'for community' groups. The first group received more than $ 2 billion in investments including Linux, Firefox and OpenOffice, while group 2 was primarily driven by individuals' natural efforts. Not surprisingly, the team works because the money is in the hands of almost every major OSS project.

' OSS is a business tool used purposefully by many corporations. If the development environment in which part of the service or product is provided is free, it will be a lever to promote the whole industry. As a service provider, you will only have to take the time to determine which part of the service will be free and skillfully combined with the sale of additional services or products , 'Iansiti points out. the driving force behind the 'open source handshake' claims of monopoly companies.

Another equally important reason is that they want to steer open code developers working on OSS projects so as to follow the company's strategic direction.

According to Iansiti, this new direction has changed the way people think about business development and association. Traditional relations are between companies. In an open code environment, that link takes place between companies and the developer community. This relationship fosters the development market because it requires lower cost than the traditional type, while the products are also directed to user needs, which means higher revenue and profit.

Hai Nguyen