Others like Dave Rosenberg, a with Infoworld and CEO of open-source enterprise service bus (ESB) provider, MuleSource Inc., argue that in the case of IBM, it's all over-interpreted hindsight.

"Almost nothing can happen in the world without IBM somehow benefiting. So I find it hard to believe that IBM was purposely malicious," he said. "My impression is that a lot of open-source software comes from big vendors simply because they don't know what to do with the stuff, so in that respect a community donation is typically a positive."

Open-source and Windows-based?

Rosenberg is more disturbed by the bandwagon jumpers: the companies, mostly startups, belatedly going open-source in order to "ride a trend," while paying only lip service to the community and its values.

Take Aras Corp., a provider of Windows-based product lifecycle management (PLM) software that in January decided to go open-source. Rosenberg the firm in his blog as an opportunistic Johnny-Come-Lately.