Open Source-onomics - Page 6

"Are Open Source programmers writing themselves out of their jobs?"

But that leads to what may seem the ultimate argument against the economics of Open Source: How long can programmers work day jobs at commercial software companies and write software at night that puts those same companies out of business? Writing Open Source software is not just irrational, it is positively suicidal. 'Tis an ill bird that fouls its own nest, (not to mention an extremely foolish one).

Indeed, this appears to be a very powerful argument. However, Eric Raymond comes to our rescue with this statistical nugget: Only 5 percent of all programmers are actually engaged in writing "for sale" commercial software. The other 95 percent actually write and maintain custom-built software for in-house use. Open Source doesn't threaten custom-built software at all. It only competes with packaged software that is sold as a product. And so, in the worst case, Open Source programmers are only going to put 5 percent of their own kind out of work. That's an acceptable level of collateral damage, as the generals might say.