Incubator Motivations

Main Author: Richard Michaelson

Interesting Quotes on Private Sector's Motivations

"Open source for us represents more than just a dramatic cost savings. The configurability and control is very appealing to us." - Interview with Chris DiBona

Discussion on Private Sector's Motivations

Richard Michaelson: Tentative Outline on Sub-topic

I. Introduction

II. Supply-side

 a.	Intro:  Why are firms supplying, contributing, or opening up their business models to OSS?
 b.	Myths? or why you would expect firms not to provide/contribute to OSS or base business models on OSS
       i.  tenuous, risky, and uncertain (will OS contributors continue to contribute? is this population large enough? the market may be too new?)
       ii.	aiding competition by opening up secrets
 c.	Reasons for supplying OSS
       i.	cost-savings
       ii.	economies of scale
 d.	Business Models
       i.	Providers of OS code
       ii.	Providers of OS services
       iii.	Open up their production process to OS people via OS licenses
 e.	Summary

III. Demand-side

 a.	Intro:  Why are firms consumers of OSS?
 b.	Myths? or why you would expect firms not to employ and consume OSS solutions
       i.	Closed solution is better
       ii.	Closed solution comes with direct and trusted customer support
 c.	Reasons supporting firms OSS consumption
       i.	cost-savings
       ii.	Flexibility and configurability
 d.	Summary

IV. Conclusion