Five Things Successful Companies Know About Open Source

It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and also that brevity is the soul of wit. In preparing for a recent trip to Samsung Electronics corporate headquarters in South Korea, I had a chance to test both of these theories.  In just my 3rd full week with the company, I was asked to impart knowledge I’d gained through many years of open source consulting, and most recently as the architect for Red Hat’s open source enablement consulting offering.

With a short turnaround time to put together a 30 minute presentation, I fell back upon the tried and true device of a Top x List – in this case, the top five pieces of advice I’d give to companies looking to improve their standing in the broader open source community.  This presentation was itself a shortened version of one I’d given at Red Hat Summit in 2012 (Top 10 Signs Your Company Doesn’t ‘Get’ Open Source).

In this article, I’ll explore these five concepts, and discuss how successful companies use them to take full advantage of the power of community.