Open Source Software: Business, Philosphy, Politics, or Religion?

What motivates a business to expose its trade secrets to its competitors via open-source software? And, is it a good thing?

Most of us subscribe to a philosophy that encourages the sharing of technology and technical know-how. We teach science and mathematics in school for the good of our children and for the good of society. University researchers publish their work so that others can learn and build upon that research. One open-source philosophy is based upon the same principle – building upon the work of others.

So, why shouldn’t businesses share technology with each other? In a capitalist society, the answer is pretty clear. Businesses succeed when they offer products or services that maintain a competitive advantage. By sharing trade secrets, a business loses its advantage. If a business cannot profit from its innovation, there is no financial incentive to innovate.

This aspect of capitalism has been recognized by none other than the Chinese government. Historically, China completely ignored software piracy and theft of intellectual property. Chinese companies were allowed to clone and sell products at will. But somewhere along the way, the Chinese government realized that there was little incentive for Chinese companies to innovate if their Chinese competitors were allowed to clone and sell their products. So the Chinese government has started to mend its ways. Imagine that! But I digress.

Besides philosophy and the greater good, why would a business open its trade secrets to its competitors? The answer is, of course, the bottom line – profit. One example is in the semiconductor industry. A company that makes money selling microprocessor chips is often happy to give away software that runs on its microprocessor chips. By providing that software, the company expects to sell more chips.

But there is a delicate balance to be weighed. If the semiconductor company gives away software, it discourages other companies from developing software that runs on that microprocessor. There is no business in trying to sell software that competes with free software. How can you compete with free? By giving away software, the semiconductor company may therefore stifle innovation that would otherwise expand the market for its microprocessor chip!

Now that I think about it, I have to wonder if I am hurting the newspaper business by making this article available for free. By being one of the many free media outlets, am I contributing to the decline in newspaper circulation? I certainly hope not. The professional journalists are good for society. But the web, like open-source software, is a disruptive technology that brings with it both good and bad.

There is a reason that some things are free and others are not. You usually get what you pay for. As a blogger, I have not been schooled in the ethics of journalism and I have no editor reviewing my work. If I did, could I have ended the first sentence in this paragraph with a preposition? Similarly, when you get software for free, quality control may be non-existent, and you won’t be receiving a warranty or any support.

Now comes the religion part. There are those who not only want to open up their software source code, they want to make everybody else do so through strings attached to their open-source software licenses. I’ll call them the open-source religious extremists. That’s where I draw the line. If you choose to share your source code, that’s your choice. But don’t demand or expect that everybody else do the same. Two of the biggest problems in this world are extremism and intolerance. Let’s keep that type of thinking out of the world of science and technology. Let’s all try to keep open minds when it comes to open-source.