Economics of open source

[PeterMoore]

hi all.  
i need a bit of help.  i have some work for uni on open source.  if the topic had been anything but 'Economics of open source' i would be fine.  But i have been assigned this one, and i was wondering if any of u kind people would help me out.  could u give me some information on this topic or point  me in the direction of some.  
Thanks very much
Peter

[Refalm]

Let me explain a bit about the economics of Open Source.

The Open Source is actually a kind of modification of the Free Software Foundation. Someone will explain the differences later.

The Free Software foundation encourages people to freely make avaible the source code of a program, so that people can study, modify or compile it without anyone telling them that it's not allowed.

Linux is GPL licenced. GPL comes from the Free Software Foundation, that gave out a license that the author of a program must always include a source code. The user of a program can use source code, as long as it's for a program that is GPL licensed.

OK, maybe some other member of this forum can explain you how Open Source and Free software can be benefisial to a company like Apple, Sun or Red Hat. Or I will in a when I have some spare time left   . (please ignore the spellings errors, English is my second language).

[PeterMoore]

thanks very much

[flap]

stfw.

http://www.opensource.org/advocacy has some economic arguments.

For the differences between "Open Source" and Free Software, see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html

[zoolooo]

The Apple Safari browser could be a useful case.

It's core is open source - which they improved and gave back.  Some of their code they kept.

see

promote-opensource.org

zooloo

[PeterMoore]

sorry another question.  i was wondering if anybody new, names of companies that fund the open source.  I have come across a few, but there is not much information on them.  i need to know a bit about how much money is going into open source.

cheers

[Refalm]

Company's don't "fund" Open Source as in giving money. They contribute.

An example is Apple, who made an Open Source operating system, called DarwinBSD. DarwinBSD is also the core for their closed source operating system, Mac OS X.

So now, people contribute and improve DarwinBSD for Apple, because everyone may modify and use it.

Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, Lycoris, etc. do simmilar things.

[Calum]

http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/netscape.htm

the netscape/mozilla story is a good example of an early commercial/open source economic venture that you might want to read more about.

also, as mentioned before, look into how red hat and other linux vendors make money while still giving their products away cost free.

[Refalm]

In audition:
The GNU GPL and the American Dream.

The GNU GPL and the American way.

[Pantso]

quote:Originally posted by Peter Moore:
sorry another question.  i was wondering if anybody new, names of companies that fund the open source.  I have come across a few, but there is not much information on them.  i need to know a bit about how much money is going into open source.

cheers

You can find some information on some Free Software supporters

at this page.

I have also written a small article, which you can find here.

Hope that helps a bit.