I'm not trying to be a troll here but I've got to say that whether a product is open source or not is of no strategic importance to any medium to large size company. The relevant qualities of any technology is going to be 1) does it do the job 2) Does my investment in the technology have longevity 3) will I continue to get support
Companies are trying to commoditize IT services and technologies all of the time. Non-IT companies have no desire to maintain the skills necessary to dive into the source of any open source product. They want to know that if they buy a product and invest their time in it that they won't have to replace it in a couple years. It's hard (although not impossible) to be confident of that given the business models adopted by open source companies. Therefore you err on the side of a proven business model.
I challenge that over 95% of the mid to large size companies that use open source don't even look at the code or attempt to build or change it.
The fact that the source is open for the vast majority of companies is irrelevant.
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Companies are trying to commoditize IT services and technologies all of the time. Non-IT companies have no desire to maintain the skills necessary to dive into the source of any open source product. They want to know that if they buy a product and invest their time in it that they won't have to replace it in a couple years. It's hard (although not impossible) to be confident of that given the business models adopted by open source companies. Therefore you err on the side of a proven business model.
I challenge that over 95% of the mid to large size companies that use open source don't even look at the code or attempt to build or change it.
The fact that the source is open for the vast majority of companies is irrelevant.