Open source is business, not charity, Sun exec says

Dylan McGrath, EE Times
(05/17/2006 5:06 PM EDT)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Open source is a business model, not a charitable contribution to mankind, according to Sunil Joshi, senior vice president of design tools, performance and OpenAccess at Sun Microsystems' scaleable systems group.

"It's about making money," Joshi said. "I think that is often misunderstood."

Speaking to a group of mostly chip designers at Synopsys Inc.'s 17th Interoperability Forum here Wednesday (May 18), Joshi said that embracing the open source business model requires relinquishing complete control of the open source technology and depending on that technology's infrastructure to generate revenue.

"If you are building a business, recognizing the importance of open source is very important," Joshi said. "Openness is not about free everything. It's about reducing the barriers, but still figuring out a business model to make money in it."

A key to this strategy, he said, is to enable the community that comes together around an open source technology to take that technology where the community wants it to go.

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