Three examples of open source projects

Firefox

Firefox came out of Netscape and is currently under the Mozilla Foundation. As an open source project it is most notable in that it competes directly and successfully against software heavyweights such as Microsoft (Internet Explorer), Apple (Safari), and Google (Chrome).

On the licensing front, it employs a tri-license strategy under the MPL (Mozilla Public License), GPL (GNU General Public License), and LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License). This allows different projects to be combined and gives users the option to pick a particular license. Its revenue is derived from fees paid by Google and other search engines to be included in Firefox.

In a conversation with Asa Dotzler of Firefox, adoption started to take off when Microsoft stopped investing in Internet Explorer. With fear of hackers, both personal and corporate users began to massively adopt Firefox.

MySQL

MySQL is one of the poster child of commercial open source which was sold to SUN Microsystems for US$1 billion in 2008. Many have argued that Oracle's SUN acuqisition in 2009 for US$7.4 billion was really about buying its biggest database competition, MySQL.

On the licensing front, it employs a dual-licensing strategy. Its open source version is available under GPL. It also offers a more traditional proprietary licensing option for users who want to incorporate MySQL into their own system or use additional libraries developed by MySQL AB.

I invited (former) MySQL CEO, Marten Mickos to give a Forum talk at Xerox PARC in 2010. It is a talk worth hearing. In separate conversations, he indicated that one of the major drivers for MySQL adoption was the fact that it has a specific niche that nobody was filling at the time, namely providing database service for web servers.

Defensive vs offensive open source

Traditionally, open source has been a way for corporate giants to create potential insurgencies in their competitor's backyard. For example, IBM and Oracle have been active supporter of Linux operating systems as a way to counteract Microsoft's dominance in the PC OS market.

Google seems to have taken a new approach with Android as an open source project. Instead of being a defensive strategy like IBM and Oracle, Android is used as an additional avenue to engage users, i.e. beyond desktop, and foster new ecosystems, i.e. working with consumer device makers. By becoming the best selling operating systems for mobile devices according to Gartner, Google has demonstrated how to use open source as an offensive strategy to penetrate new spaces outside of a company's core business.