Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Joel On The Economics of Open Source

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the why-it-works-the-way-it-does dept.

Stephen writes "The ever-incisive Joel Spolsky discusses the economics of open source software in his latest Joel on Software column. Why do so many large companies want to develop open source software? It's not because they have suddenly converted to Stallmanism."

1 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. Why opensource commercial software? by uncoveror · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Why opensource commercial software? Won't you lose your ability to sell for a profit? Not neccesarily. The open source community will give you free testing and debugging. A real savings over paying people to do it, and many will do it with a passion, not just as drones working on the clock at a saltmine. When it comes time to sell the finished product, some will take the free version online, but most will want a colorful shrinkwrapped box with CDs inside. That is something tangible. Open source does not have to turn software into something you give away, and you never have to give away technical support.

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.