Open source vs. proprietary software

03.11.2011
The "scrufffy guy coding away in his basement" archetype stopped applying to open-source software a while ago.

It just doesn't make sense when you consider that heavyweight vendors like IBM and Microsoft - which built empires based on proprietary software - constitute some of biggest contributors in money and development resources to widely used open-source projects like the .

In turn, Red Hat has built a nearly billion-dollar business based on open source.

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So where's the controversy? The situation may not be that as much as it is a quest for bragging rights.

"A lot of software innovation today is being driven by organizations that aren't in the business of selling software, which means that a great deal of it is open source," says Redmonk analyst Stephen O'Grady. "Proprietary software's role as the primary innovator in the market is, effectively, over."