Selected Articles about Open Source & Business

The following are a series of selected news articles, feature stories, and blogs about Business & 'Open Source' activities and solutions that have been posted on Open Health News (OHN) over the past couple of years. .

Finding Financial Investors for new 'Open Source' Health IT Companies

This short article is meant to provide a high level overview and guidance about the major stages of financing new companies go through as they mature. This includes companies offering products or services in the 'Open Health' arena such as open source software, open data, open access, and open hardware solutions. There are typically six stages of financing that roughly correspond to the stages of a company's development.  Read More »

Investing in Open Source Companies & Solutions is Smart Business

"Bill Gates, VCs Invest $35M In ResearchGate",  "Mirantis Fuels Open Source OpenStack with $10 Million Investment", "One day, three deals, $150 million in open source funding", "Open Source technology investment to increase significantly by 2018". Pay attention to these headlines from recent news articles related to investing in 'open source'.

Obviously, there must be something wrong with these news stories. Who would really want to invest in companies that have embraced the 'open source' movement? Google must be a one time phenomena. Facebook, a flash in the pan. Red Hat, an anomaly. Canonical's Ubuntu solution? C'mon.  Amazon, Acquia, SugarCRM, Alfresco, eRacks, Jaspersoft, OpenBravo, Pentaho, EnterpriseDB, Talend, VMWare, Zenoss, …  Read More >>

Open Source Business Models

A quick Google search on "Business Models for Open Source" brings up numerous articles and studies on the topic that proclaim there are anywhere from five major business models to over eighty possible examples. We have compiled a list of approximately 15-20 business models or strategies for open source, depending on the mission, goals, licensing, context, and numerous other factors.  Read More »

'Open Data' Business Models & Strategies in Healthcare

The U.S., U.K., Kenya, India, France, G8 Nations…  Everyone seems to be catching 'Open Data' Fever!  Companies across the U.S. and around the world are all starting to figure out business models and strategies that will allow them to cash in on the 'open data' movement.

A few years ago, RedMonk co-founder and analyst Stephen O'Grady presented his idea that we are now entering the fourth generation of information technology (IT) companies.  Turns out he was right on target. According to O'Grady, the four generations to date include…  Read More >>

Open Source & IT Procurement

Paul Matthews, Chief Executive of the Institute of IT Professionals (IITP) congratulated Commerce Minister Foss for listening to the IT industry and supporting the nearly unanimous passage of New Zealand's recent law banning software patents.

This represents one more step forward in efforts by the public sector to change the law and procurement processes for information technology (IT) solutions. It places open source software solutions on an equal footing with traditional  'closed' proprietary solutions. This change will also benefit many small companies in the private sector that can't afford costly, proprietary solutions. Read More >>

Are Open Source Mega-Companies on the Horizon?

Senior executives and investors, pay attention. Hundreds of major open source companies have been established and are now succeeding in the 'Open Source' & 'Open Health' marketplace.  Think Red Hat, Clear Health, KitWare, MedSphere, Black Duck, Mirth, Alfresco, Canonical, Open Dental, Indivica, and many more.

The latest reports from Gartner, Forrester, Cenatic, and many other news and industry research organizations all point to the continuing growth of the open source marketplace. In fact, Red Hat recently became the first open source software company to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue, a watershed moment for the global open source business community.  Read More >>

The 'Open Source Maturity Model'

The following is a description of the Open Source Maturity Model as defined by Open Health News (OHNews). It lays out the six major phases open source systems may go through during their systems life cycle – from the birth of an idea to a mature global solution.  Read More »

Hybrid Open Source Software Development & Business Models

Starting in the early 2000s, a number of companies began to release a portion of their product's source code to the open source community, while keeping key parts closed. This allowed them to make claims that their company and products were open source. These products were termed commercial open source or hybrid open source software, to distinguish them from true free and open source software (FOSS).

In hybrid open source business models [see COTS, FOSS, or HOSS Solutions?], some of the software products are released using a business friendly open source license, but some of the special source code add-ons are only available for a fee. There currently appear to be two major forms of the hybrid open source business model.  Read More >>

Let us know about other articles you would recommend on 'Open Source' and the Business world.