During my time in Open Source community development, I’ve repeatedly faced the same annoying question coming from business managers: “What’s the business value of Open Source?”

Or sometimes the question goes unstated but whenever you talk about community development operations in a meeting the room goes quiet as if what you’re saying has little value. What’s funny is that this questioning of Open Source community development as a valuable discipline comes from the very people who directly engage in similar activities when they implement their own product launches; conferences; and tours to meet customers, analysts, and journalists. In community development, we do the same thing. The only difference is that we engage developers, not customers, analysts, and the press. That’s it. It’s that simple. But it gets even crazier when you realize that the developers we meet work within the customer base! And it’s well known that developers influence tech purchasing decisions.

This constant questioning of Open Source development hits community builders who work at major software vendors whether they are in engineering or marketing roles. The skepticism used to be understandable in the early days, but is it really still a mystery here in 2025? Giving away software for free seems counterintuitive to traditional business thinking, but the evidence of economic value is overwhelming. To not see this is unacceptable.

In Open Source software, a powerful economic principle has emerged over time. It’s simple. You build the Open Source development community first, and then the business opportunities follow. You have to actively work both sides of the equation, but the process isn’t difficult to understand. This isn’t speculation. So many companies have proven that this strategy generates serious revenue while also creating opportunities for millions of developers worldwide. It’s just business development. I sometimes push back on this question and point to concrete proof that community investment translates directly into business value. But most times I just ignore it and look out for people who are more knowledgable about market development.

Anyway, here are a few examples for kicks.

Linux: From Hobby Project to Massive Business Value

Take Linux. When Linus Torvalds released his Linux code in the 1990s, he invited collaboration from developers. Then thousands of kernel engineers submitted contributions. Now Linux powers most servers, supercomputers, and Android devices. IBM recognized this process early and invested aggressively in Linux development.

But many people missed this early innovation entirely. I remember I was at LinuxWorld Expo in New York City in 2001 when IBM announced its insane billion dollar investment in Linux. From the show floor I called back to colleagues on the marketing team at Sun in Silicon Valley because I viewed this move as a threat to Solaris, and I thought we’d have to respond in some way. I was literally on the call as Linus was holding court right outside the Sun booth on the show floor. He had dozens of young developers listening to his every word.

But instead of being taken seriously, I was met with laughter and mockery. “Oh, Jim, Linux is a toy,” they told me. The conversation ended quickly. That dismissive attitude was widespread throughout Sun’s technical marketing teams at the time — even among many engineers, sadly. Sun’s Solaris was a technically superior Unix at the time, so what could possibly go wrong, right? And besides, why would large enterprises ever choose a buggy free operating system cobbled together by a bunch of volunteers hacking in their basements?

That dismissal was costly. IBM’s investment paid massive returns and Linux totally undermined Solaris and Sun. I remember working on earning calls and and having to explain quarter after quarter why Linux was growing and why Solaris was declining. It was remarkable how utterly blind my colleagues in marketing and business development were at the time. It’s obvious they forgot to read “The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.” I did suggest that they read the book, by the way, but no one took me up on the offer. I read it multiple times.

By enabling Linux for enterprise use, and contributing to the growing Linux development movement, IBM built a thriving services business that generated billions. When IBM acquired Red Hat years later for tens of billions of dollars, they purchased a company built entirely on community-developed Open Source software. Meanwhile, Sun’s proprietary Solaris became increasingly irrelevant as Linux matured and captured the enterprise Unix market. That toy operating system that Sun’s marketers laughed at literally wrecked Sun. Oracle acquired what was left of Sun a few years later as the company crashed and burned to death. But not for Solaris. The real value at Sun was in Java and Java’s growing developer community. The lesson to me was clear: dismissing a thriving global open source community is a dumb strategic mistake. Sun did finally open Solaris but by then it was too late.

Java: The Power of a Global Developer Community

Java demonstrates the pattern as well. Engineers at Sun Microsystems created Java but the community made it dominant because the technology was open from the beginning. Millions of developers learned Java. Thousands of companies adopted it. And an entire ecosystem thrived. When Oracle acquired Sun, they recognized the value of Java’s massive global community. Java Virtual Machines now run on billions of devices globally, spanning servers, embedded systems, and IoT devices. Oracle generates substantial revenue from Java-related services and support. But it was the developer community that created the global installed base that drives this revenue. Java developers earn strong salaries, representing another dimension of community-driven value. The community created sustained employment for millions of developers worldwide.

Over the years, I have interviewed about a hundred Java developers for podcasts, and their perspective is remarkably consistent. They all tell me that the open sourcing of Java made all the difference in their careers and in Java’s success. Java was open from the start, and that openness enabled them to engage with the technology in ways that proprietary languages didn’t allow. They could examine the source code to understand how features worked. They could contribute improvements. They could build tools and frameworks on top of Java without license restrictions. They credit open source and community development as the fundamental reasons for Java’s success. Without that openness, Java would have been just another proprietary language competing for attention. With it, Java became a global platform that millions of developers built their careers around. This is not speculation from business strategists. This is the direct testimony of the developers who chose Java precisely because it was open.

How FOSS Creates Business Value and Opportunity

Development communities accelerate innovation faster than any single company could achieve internally. Major container orchestration platforms, AI tools, content management systems, operating systems, languages, frameworks and databases that were open sourced have improved rapidly through community contributions. The largest cloud providers now build profitable services around these technologies. Companies that Open Source their technologies gain access to global technical expertise while building ecosystems that drive commercial adoption.

Communities also function as talent pools where companies identify skilled developers through their Open Source contributions rather than through expensive recruiters. This collaborative approach has enabled companies to reach well over a billion dollars in revenue while also creating global opportunities for developers. For example, I’ve interviewed developers who stated quite directly and passionately that Open Source and Java saved their lives. Others have said that Java enabled them to go to college and support their parents. Some have built multi-million dollar companies around Open Source frameworks. Others earn substantial income from maintaining popular packages or community sponsorships. These success stories span continents and demonstrate that Open Source creates genuine economic opportunity regardless of geography or traditional credentials.

Finally

The evidence is pretty clear, isn’t it? Community development is business development. It’s not similar. It’s not almost the same. No. It’s identical. Companies can build profitable businesses by investing in Open Source development through code contributions, foundation support, and active participation. Major enterprise software companies, database vendors, DevOps platforms, data analytics firms, and content management providers all demonstrate the model works at any scale.

Decades of history and also current trends show this clearly. You build an Open Source development community first, and then the revenue follows. You support developers, contribute to projects, start technical user groups, and host conferences. These investments generate returns as the market matures through multiple channels including sales, talent acquisition, cost reduction, and market development. Just look at Linux and Java as the two obvious　examples. Open Source proves that collaboration creates more value than competition at the community level, and that sharing knowledge accelerates everyone’s success.

Read up on Sun’s Bill Joy: “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.”