In the early days of computing, software was free and shipped in its source form as an add-on to the computer. Then came the 1969 IBM monopoly lawsuit that was later settled out of court and forced IBM to unbundle software from hardware. This led to the birth of an independent software industry that quickly discovered the benefits of code compilation as a way to preserve intelectual property. In the process, closed source software became increasingly complex, reaching its peak with products such as Microsoft Windows 95, which at the time of release had more than 15 million physical source lines of code.

Open Source, which largely originated from the Free Software Foundation and came to the mainstream through the Linux project (or should I say GNU/Linux?), can be considered as a delegation of source code stewardship as a way to improve the manageability of systems that reach too high a level of complexity to be managed through closed source efforts. In 2000, Red Hat Linux 6.2 reached 17 million physical source lines of code, while offering a level of stability and reliability that closed source products such as Microsoft Windows will never be able to achieve, irrespectively of how much resources are invested in their development.

As a by-product, Open Source business models emerged and provided alternative distribution models for the software industry, when the perpetual licensing model of packaged enterprise software started to run out of steam. These models are still very much in development, but the success of companies such as Red Hat or Sugar CRM cannot be denied.

Through this category, we will try to outline the fundamental elements of an Open Source business model for an enterprise software company, and feature vendors that best walk the thin line that exists between the development of a profitable venture and the management of an open community.