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Photo: Opensource.erve |
A few years ago, making source code public was an unusual move for a company that had just acquired a proprietary software product line. However, this has become one of the strategies for competing and surviving in the current market.
The Massachusetts-based company Integrated Computer Solutions took their project management software Project.net, which they acquired on January 1, in this direction to gain an edge over proprietary competitors. They aim to expand their customer base by allowing free downloads and will profit from service support contracts.
“If we distribute the product at a lower-than-average price, we are likely to attract more users, especially small companies and those outside the United States,” said Peter Winston, CEO of Integrated Computer Solutions.
John Newton, the founder of Documentum in 1990 with proprietary software that helps clients manage digital documents, emphasized: “This is the only path forward, it’s the future of software, it’s an inevitable trend.” Newton is currently the Chief Technology Officer of Alfresco, a company in London that is developing and providing a similar toolkit but with open-source code.
However, many refuse to follow this path, including Diane Greene, President of VMware. She believes that proprietary software remains a lucrative business as long as companies constantly innovate and improve ahead of competitors while exploring ways to expand their products as far as possible.
In contrast, EMC Corporation is releasing two free virtual machine software versions for servers and desktops to accelerate product approval and dissemination. BEA Systems, traditionally a proprietary company, has announced plans to transition to open source. Experts in the proprietary realm, such as Microsoft, are increasingly integrating more open-source features into their products.
P.T
