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The Commercial Open Source Business Model

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Value Creation in E-Business Management (AMCIS 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 36))

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Abstract

Commercial open source software projects are open source software projects that are owned by a single firm that derives a direct and significant revenue stream from the software. Commercial open source at first glance represents an economic paradox: How can a firm earn money if it is making its product available for free as open source? This paper presents the core properties of com mercial open source business models and discusses how they work. Using a commercial open source approach, firms can get to market faster with a superior product at lower cost than possible for traditional competitors. The paper shows how these benefits accrue from an engaged and self-supporting user community. Lacking any prior comprehensive reference, this paper is based on an analysis of public statements by practitioners of commercial open source. It forges the various anecdotes into a coherent description of revenue generation strategies and relevant business functions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SAP Research, SAP Labs LLC, Germany

    Dirk Riehle

Authors
  1. Dirk Riehle
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Illinois State University, IL 61790, Normal, USA

    Matthew L. Nelson

  2. College of Business, University of Illinois, IL, 61820, Champaign, USA

    Michael J. Shaw

  3. College of Business and Public Administration, Drake University, IA 50311, Des Moines, USA

    Troy J. Strader

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Riehle, D. (2009). The Commercial Open Source Business Model. In: Nelson, M.L., Shaw, M.J., Strader, T.J. (eds) Value Creation in E-Business Management. AMCIS 2009. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 36. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03132-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03132-8_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03131-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03132-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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