The adoption of collaborative development and open source licensing practices by software vendors has grown rapidly in the past 10 years as open source specialists have emerged to disrupt the proprietary incumbents, and established vendors have, themselves, learned to leverage open source in order to benefit from collaborative development. Open source is no longer a black-and-white issue (if it ever truly was), and it has become clear that when it comes to open-source-related business strategies, there are various shades of grey.

This report is the latest in a series from the 451 CAOS practice examining the impact of open source on business strategies. It takes a look at open source successes, as well as vendors that have walked away from open source licensing and development projects, investigating the reasons why they failed to gain the expected benefits from open source – or open source failed to meet their requirements. ‘Going open’ is a complicated and difficult process that requires concerted effort and an understanding of best practices, as well as the lessons learned from companies ‘going closed.’ This report presents an impartial overview of the strengths and weaknesses of open source strategies, the successes to replicate and the mistakes to avoid.