Why Companies Should Contribute to Open Source

On the surface of Open Source is this image that it’s just giving something away for free. Many business decision makers and managers see this in a way that would threaten their business if they were to just give their software away for free. However, the fact is that unless you’re software company selling a software there is likely a lot of custom, home grown software within your organization, that doesn’t have trade secrets within it, that could easily be shared. On the surface, this sounds like you’d be just giving away the “Golden Egg” for free. However, the realities of Open Source software are far from this. Open Source software offers a unique benefit to a company that other content production doesn’t. Open Source proves credibility, shows expertise and drives innovation.