And thus here lies the puzzle: by distributing the source code with the object code, open source and free software developers give their competitors free access to any value that they might have added to the software they are distributing. A developer thus cannot capture that value for him- or herself, but rather gives at least a part of it away. How then can developers have sufficient incentive to innovate? What motivates them to develop in this way? How can developers sustain the costs of development if they must hand to their competitors all the value they have created?
Loading...