Open source development is smart business

It's an interesting question: Why would large, established companies like Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) and others embrace open source strategies? In some ways, it seems counterproductive. After all, releasing a software application's source code to the community could be viewed as letting an organization's competitive advantage walk out the door. However, as anyone involved in the open source community knows, this shortsighted view fails to acknowledge the true benefits of open source development.

I've been engaged in free software -- which later became "open source" in 1998 -- for almost two decades. I understand the community's skepticism when it comes to corporate approaches to open source. I've seen simple open source concepts -- such as free distribution, source code that can be modified, open licensing, and others -- distorted by companies looking to sell products and recast their image as open. To succeed and truly benefit the open source community, companies need to find a balance between maintaining their competitive advantage and working closely with customers and developers.

From a corporate perspective, there are excellent reasons for adopting an open source strategy:

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