From the origin to the future of Open Source model and business

From the origin to the future of
Open Source model and
business
OPEN SOURCE DAY 2024
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fcorti/
FrkCorti
Francesco Corti
Principal Product Manager @ Docker Inc.

Principal Product Manager @
Open Source enthusiast
Developer at heart (ex-DevRel)
Speaker & Author

&
Business
Models

Ulrich Haessler
1960s 1970s
Richard Stallman
1970s
Richard Stallman
Petersens, Lennart af
1950s
Once upon a time…

1970s
Richard Stallman
For students and academic,
done in garages or basements of universities
The business was labeling Open Source proposals
with not professional, not reliable, not for business

Open Source
0.0
1970s-1990s
Free
Software
(Credits to a16z.com “Open Source from community to commercialization”)

1990s
Linus Benedict Torvalds
The implication?
Support and Services

Open Source
Microsoft
VMWare
…

Open Source
0.0
1970s-1990s
Free
Software
Open Source
1.0
1990s-2000s
Support
& Services

Users do not know or care if there is
open source or proprietary software
under the hood
The perceived gap was filled
Open source started to provide
economic and strategic value

Proprietary
(Not free)
Open
Source
Core
(Free)
The model is controversial, as many developers do
not consider it to be true open-source software

Open Source
0.0
1970s-1990s
Free
Software
Open Source
1.0
1990s-2000s
Support
& Services
Subscription
Model (SaaS)
Open Source
2.0
2000s-Today

Where are we today?
OSS is widely considered as more secure
OSS software is foundational for many (most of
the successful and fast growing) products

Where are we today?
A lot of acquisitions happened
2008 2010
2018*
(*) One of IBM’s largest-ever acquisitions.
2018

Software is eating the world
[Andreessen Horowitz in 2011]
As software has eaten the world, open source is eating software
[Andreessen Horowitz in 2019]
https://www.coss.community/cossc/open-source-is-eating-software-faster-than-software-is-eating-the-world-3b01

Happily Ever After

Open Source software
is often complex
(bad for the business)
Core contributors are
very few
and often “old”

Open Source
0.0
1970s-1990s
Free
Software
Open Source
1.0
1990s-2000s
Support
& Services
Subscription
Model (SaaS)
Open Source
2.0
2000s-2020s
Open Source
3.0
2020s-Today

Cloud vendors
are not the evil
Showing Open Source
commitment is probably the
only way to have broad adoption
and recognition
If you want to be considered by
developers and techies
you need to be Open Source

Sustainability for a
free software is hard
and often controversial
Contributors are not
paid but companies are

Bruce Perens
Leader of Debian GNU/Linux
It would define the corporate relationship with
developers to ensure companies paid a fair amount
for the benefits they receive.
It would remain free for individuals and non-profit,
and would entail just one license.
Icons by icons8
Companies Contributor
Unique
License
Fair
Distribution

As software has eaten the world, AI is eating software
and AI products are Open Source
like everything else in widely adopted software

From the origin to the future of Open Source model and business

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