fyi... Open Source in Global Software: Market Impact, Disruption, and Business Models IDC identifies the following developments in the open source phenomenon: • Over the next ten years, open source will extract a toll on the industry in the low double digits, percentage wise, led by vicious price competition; • Price effects are a less important impact of open source adoption than the effect of open source on the entire life-cycle of software invention and innovation; • Despite the proliferation of open source license forms, only three business models are important from an industry and an individual vendor success point of view: the software revenue model, the public collective model, and the service broker model; • Competitive success among vendors' open source markets will be determined by a different set of core competencies than those required to invent and market a new product. The study examines the future impact of open source in the software life-cycle, the emerging business models for open source software markets, and the potential for market disruption. It also investigates the open source business models of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Sun Microsystems, CA, AOL, Amazon, and Perot Systems. ... http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS20311906 -- ________________________________________ http://users.ntua.gr/karounos/ - skype: karounos