Is open source software a race to zero?
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gozunda
gozunda writes "My company is an open source software vendor/developer. We maintain a popular open source project and keep ourselves afloat by producing commercial products derived from or extending the value of the core project. Over time we've seen our business model eroding as other open source projects produce free versions of the same extensions and utilities that are our bread and butter. Something that was worth $5K last year is suddenly worth $0 because the free version is just as good as the paid.
This same cycle is obviously having an impact on pure-play commercial software vendors. Is open source ultimately a race to zero? In ten years will there be any cost associated with commodity (non custom) software? If not, will there still be a "software industry" or will software simply be a by-product of the operation of other industries? Is that a bad thing for humanity? As a professional developer do I need to fear this or feed it?"
This same cycle is obviously having an impact on pure-play commercial software vendors. Is open source ultimately a race to zero? In ten years will there be any cost associated with commodity (non custom) software? If not, will there still be a "software industry" or will software simply be a by-product of the operation of other industries? Is that a bad thing for humanity? As a professional developer do I need to fear this or feed it?"
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Is open source software a race to zero?