Open source software is widely used for private and non-commercial applications. In addition, many independent software vendors (ISVs), value-added resellers (VARs), and hardware vendors (OEMs or ODMs) use open source frameworks, modules, and libraries inside their proprietary, for-profit products and services. From the customer's perspective, the ability to use open source technology under standard commercial terms and support is valuable. Customers are willing to pay for the legal protection (e.g., indemnification from intellectual property infringement), "commercial-grade QA," and high-touch support/training/consulting that are typical of commercial software built on top of the innovation and independence that comes with open source.
Since GNU and some other open source licenses stipulate that derived works must distribute their intellectual property under an open source (copyleft) license, ISVs and VARs have developed legal and technical mechanisms to foster their commercial goals:
The underlying objective of these business models is to harness the size and international scope of the open source community (typically more than an order of magnitude larger than what would be achieved with closed-source models) for a sustainable commercial venture. The vast majority of commercial open source companies experience a conversion ratio (as measured by the percentage of downloaders who buy something) well below 1%, so low-cost and highly-scalable marketing and sales functions are key to these firms' profitability.
There is considerable debate about whether vendors can make a sustainable business from an open source strategy. In terms of a traditional software company, this is probably the wrong question to ask. Looking at the landscape of open source applications, many of the larger ones are sponsored (and largely written) by system companies such as IBM who may not have an objective of software license revenues. Other software companies, such as Oracle and Google, have sponsored or delivered significant open source code bases. These firms' motivation tends to be more strategic, in the sense that they are trying to change the rules of a marketplace and reduce the influence of vendors such as Microsoft. In the case of smaller vendors doing open source work, their objectives may be less "immediate revenue growth" and more "developing a large and loyal community," which may be the basis of a corporate valuation at merger time.
Except for Red Hat and VA Software, no other pure open source company has gone public on the major stock markets. However, two firms on the list below may go public during 2012. The remainder are likely to be acquired, as is the norm for all pre-public software companies.
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The purpose of this table is to provide reference information about the provenance and history of commercial open source applications, alphabetized by the product/service name. It is not to be used or interpreted as an advertisement for the vendors.
Product or Service Name (business models used) |
Commercial Vendor | Description | Current Version | Open Source Project Name |
Ver 1.0 Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
389 Directory Server (3,4) | Red Hat | LDAP-compliand directory server | ? | Fedora Directory Server | ? |
Abiquo (1,3,4) | Abiquo | Cloud management | 1.6 | Abiquo | 2008 |
AdverTool (3,4) | AdverTool | Advertising campaign management | 1.1 | Advertisement tool | 2010 |
Alfresco (1,3,4) | Alfresco | Enterprise Content Management, Web Content Management | 2.2 | Alfresco | 2006 |
AppStacks (3) | AppStacks | AppStacks Open Source application suites leveraging workflow, websites. | 2.0 | AppStacks | 2010 |
Asterisk (1,4) | Digium | PBX server / Telephony toolkit | 1.6.2.1 | Asterisk | 2004[1] |
Avactis (1,3,4) | Avactis | eCommerce software | 2.0 | Avactis Shopping Cart | 2001 |
Bacula (1,3,4) | Bacula | Data Backup / Recovery | 2.7 | Bacula | ? |
Berkeley DB (?) | Oracle Corporation | DBMS engines | 4.6, 3.2, 2.3 | Berkeley DB, Java edition, XML edition (née Sleepycat) |
2003? |
Birt_Project (2) | Actuate | Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools | 2.1.3 | BIRT Exchange Eclipse |
2005 |
blee(p) (1) | Transverse | Telecom Billing Support System | 1.0 | blee(p) | 2009 |
Bonita Open Solution (1,4) | BonitaSoft | Business Process Management Suite | 5,3 | Bonita Open Solution | 2001 |
Compiere (1,3,4) | Compiere | ERP and CRM | 2.6.1 | Compiere | 2000? |
CSI TriSano (1,3) | Collaborative Software Initiative | Globalized Surveillance, Case Management and Outbreak Management for disease, bioterrorism and environmental hazards | 2.5 | TriSano | 2009 |
Cruise Control Enterprise (4) | ThoughtWorks | Software Development Tools | 1.0 | CruiseControl | 2007 |
db4o (1,4) | db4o | ODBMS | 6.0 | db4o | ? |
Entrance (1) | dbEntrance Software | SQL-based data exploration tool | 1.3.34 | Entrance Community | 2007 |
Ext JS (1) | Sencha | Cross-browser JavaScript Framework | 3.2.1 | Ext JS | 2007 |
Ext GWT (1) | Sencha | Java Framework for Google Web Toolkit | 2.1.1 | Ext GWT | 2007 |
EyeOS (1,3,4) | EyeOS | Cloud computing operating system | 2.1beta | EyeOS | 2007 |
Funambol Server (1,4) | Funambol | Mobile Email and PIM Synchronization | 6.0 | Funambol (née Sync4j) |
2001 |
Fuse Message Broker (4) | Progress Software | JMS platform | v5 | Apache ActiveMQ | 2006 |
FUSE ESB (4) | Progress Software | Enterprise service bus | v3 | Apache ServiceMix | 2006 |
FUSE Mediation Router (4) | Progress Software | Routing and process mediation engine | v1 | Apache Camel | 2006 |
FUSE Services Framework (4) | Progress Software | JAX-WS 2.0 service-enablement framework | v2 | Apache CXF | 2006 |
GAIUS: Generic Automated Integrated Universal System | Imtech | Machine Automation and Machine Supervisor, advanced SCADA | 2.0 | on request |
2010 |
Hyperic HQ | SpringSource | Application & System Monitoring | 4.6 | Hyperic Application & System Monitoring | ? |
Ingres Database (1) | Ingres | RDBMS | 9.3 | Ingres | ? |
Intalio BPMS (1,4) | Intalio | Business Process Management - Workflow | 5.2 | Eclipse, Intalio | ? |
ITCOCKPIT (4) | GmbH | Proactive System- and Networkmonitoring Solution with SLA-, End-2-End- and Business Process Monitoring | 3.0 | ITCOCKPIT | 2005 |
Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite (1) | JasperSoft | Reporting, Dashboards, Analysis, Data Integration; End to End BI solution | 3.7 | JasperForge | 1996 |
Java Enterprise System (1,4) | Oracle Corporation | Application Server, Middleware, LDAP, etc. | 5 | Java | 2003? |
Jitterbit Integration Server (1,4) | Jitterbit | Application Integration | 1.3 | Jitterbit | 2006? |
JBoss Enterprise Middleware (1,3,4) | Red Hat | Enterprise Middleware based on Java Platform, Enterprise Edition | 5.1.1 | jboss.org | 2001 |
Jumper 2.0 (4) | Jumper Networks | Universal search tool powered by enterprise social bookmarking | 2.0.1.4 | Project Jumper | 2008 |
Kaltura (1,3) | Video Platform | Video and rich media management platform and applications | 4.0 | Kaltura | 2006 |
KnowledgeTree (1,3,4) | KnowledgeTree | Document and Records Management System | 3.4 | KnowledgeTree | 2004 |
Liferay Portal (4) | Liferay | Enterprise web portal | 5.0.1 | Liferay Portal | 2000? |
LogicalDOC (1,3,4) | Logical Objects Srl | Document Management System | 6.1 | LogicalDOC Document Management - DMS | 2004 |
LogLogic 1 | LogLogic Lasso | collect Windows event logs | 4.0.0 | Project Lasso | 2006 |
Lotus Symphony (1,4) | IBM | Office Productivity Suite | Eclipse, OpenOffice |
2007 | |
LucidWorks (4) | Lucid Imagination | Open Source Search Platform | Apache Lucene / Solr | 2010 | |
Magento Enterprise (?) | Magento | eCommerce | 1.7 | Magento | 2008 |
ManyDesigns Portofino (1) | ManyDesigns | Web framework | 3.1.10 | Portofino | 2009 |
Mendix Agile Business Platform (?) | Mendix | agile application lifecycle management PaaS | 3.0 | Mendix | 2005 |
MobileReflex (?) | MobileReflex | Enterprise Mobile Applications | ? | MobileReflex | ? |
Mono (1) | Novell | Open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET application framework | 2.4 | Mono | ? |
Mule (1,4) | MuleSoft | Enterprise Service Bus and Integration Platform | 1.4 | Mule | 2003 |
MySQL Enterprise (1,4) | Oracle Corporation | RDBMS | 5.0 | MySQL Community | 1995 |
NetBeans (1,4) | Oracle Corporation | Software Development Tools (Java, Ruby, Perl, PHP, etc.) |
6.9 | NetBeans | 2000 |
Openbravo (4) | Openbravo | ERP | 2.33 | Openbravo ERP | 2001 |
OpenClinica (1,3) | Akaza Research | Clinical Trials Software for Electronic Data Capture (EDC) and Clinical Data Management (CDM) | 3.0.4 | OpenClinica | 2005 |
OpenQuote (4) | Applied Industrial Logic | Online Insurance Quotation solution | 1.3 | OpenQuote Community | 2011 |
OpenSearchServer (1,4) | OpenSearchServer | Enterprise Search | 1.2 | OpenSearchServer | 2009 |
Open Workbench (1,4) | Computer Associates | Project Management / Governance Tools | 1.1.4 | Open Workbench | 2004 |
OrangeHRM | OrangeHRM | HR Management | 2.6.6 | Orange HRM | 2006 |
Open CASCADE Technology (1,4) | Open Cascade SAS | Software library for 3D CAD / CAM / CAE applications | 6.4 | Open CASCADE Technology | 1999 |
Palo Business Intelligence Suite (1,3,4) | Jedox AG | Palo is a Open-Source BI solution for Corporate Performance Management and OLAP-based Planning, Analysis, Consolidation and Reporting. | 3.0 | Jedox AG | 2002 |
Pentaho Business Intelligence Suite (4) | Pentaho | Business Intelligence, Data Mining, Data Integration, Analytics, Reporting, and Dashboards | 3.5.2 | Pentaho Open BI Suite | 2004 |
Poseidon for UML (1) | Gentleware | Software Modeling Tool | 6.0 | ArgoUML | 1998 |
Posterita (1) | Posterita | Retail POS | 1.6 | Posterita POS | 2007 |
Precurio | Precurio Intranet | Intranet, Collaboration, Help Desk, Project Management, Workflow | 3.0 | Klein Devort | 2010 |
Projectivity (1,4) | Projectivity | Best-practices management of Projects, Documents, Resources and Frameworks | 3.0 | Projectivity Open Source | 2006 |
ProjeLead (1,4) | Pragmatis Consulting | Project Management / Project Collaboration | 2.0 | ProjeLead | 2009 |
Project.net (3,4) | Project.net | Project and Portfolio Management | 8.2.1 | projectnet | 2000 |
Project-Open (3,4) | Project-Open | Project and Portfolio Management | 3.4 | Project-Open | 2003 |
Qt (1) | Trolltech | GUI development toolkit | 4.4 | Qt | ? |
Quipu data warehouse management | QOSQO | Data warehouse generation, business intelligence | 2.0 | Quipu | 2010 |
Rational Application Developer (1,4) | IBM | Software Development Tools | Eclipse | 2002? | |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (3,4) | Red Hat | Enterprise server and client Linux distribution | 5 | Fedora Project | ? |
Red Hat Enterprise IPA(3,4) | Red Hat | Identity management for Linux and Unix systems | 1 | freeIPA | 2008 |
Red Hat Network Satellite(3,4) | Red Hat | Systems management platform for Linux infrastructure | ? | Spacewalk | ? |
Revolution R (1,4) | Revolution Analytics | Statistical analysis environment | 4.3 | R Project | 2008 |
RubyWorks (1,4) | ThoughtWorks | Software Development Tools / Runtime Environment |
1.0 | Several | 2007 |
Sencha Touch (1) | Sencha | HTML5 Mobile App Framework | 1.0 | Sencha Touch | 2010 |
SilverStripe (1,4) | SilverStripe | Enterprise CMS and development framework | 2.2 | SilverStripe | 2008 |
Skyway Builder (1) | Skyway Software | Code generation for Java applications running on the Spring Framework | 6.2 | Skyway Builder Community Edition | 2002 |
Snare (1,4) | InterSect Alliance | Log collection and analysis | 4.0 | Snare | 2001 |
Softabar Command Line Email Client | Softabar | Command line email client. | 3.0.1 | SCLEC | 2005 |
Spring Framework (1) | SpringSource | Software Development Framework | 2.5 | Spring | ? |
Solaris (1,4) | Oracle Corporation | Operating System | 10 | OpenSolaris | 2005? |
Squiz (1,3,4) | Squiz.net | Enterprise Content Management System | v3.16.10 (PHP4), v3.18.3 (PHP5) | MySource Matrix | 1998 |
StarOffice (4) | Oracle Corporation | Office Productivity Suite | 8.0 | OpenOffice.org | 2000 |
SugarCRM (1,3) | SugarCRM | Sales Force Automation | 6.2 | SugarCRM | 2004 |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (4) | Novell | Enterprise server and client Linux distribution | 11.1 | OpenSUSE | ? |
Sun Studio (1,4) | Oracle Corporation | Software Development Tools for C, C++ | 8.1 | NetBeans | 2000 |
Talend Open Studio (4) | Talend | Data Integration | 3.2.3 | Talendforge | 2006 |
Talend Open Profiler (4) | Talend | Data Profiling, Data Quality | 3.2.3 | Talendforge | 2008 |
Tasktop (1,2) | Tasktop | Task-focused interface | 1.6 | Mylyn | 2008 |
Terracotta | Terracotta | JVM level clustering | 2.7 | Terracotta | ? |
Websphere (1,4) | IBM | Web Server, Application Server, Middleware | Apache | 2002? | |
Ubuntu (1) | Canonical Ltd | Server and client Linux distribution | 11.10 | Ubuntu | 2004 |
Untangle (1) | Untangle | Network Gateway Platform | 8.0 | Untangle | 2007 |
UseResponse (1) | USWebStyle | Self-hosted Customer Support Software | 1.0 | UseResponse | 2011 |
Vyatta (1,4) | Vyatta | Router, firewall, VPN | VC3 | Vyatta Community | 2006 |
XAware (1,4) | XAware | Data Integration, Composite Data Services | 5.4 | XAware Forge | 2000 |
Zarafa (1,3,4) | Zarafa | Email and calendaring solution | 6.40 | Zarafa opensource edition | 2005 |
Zend Core / Platform(1,4) | Zend | Commercialized version of PHP language, infrastructure | 3.6 | Vyatta Community | 2002? |
Zenoss (2) | Zenoss | Application, Network, and Systems Management | 2.3 | Zenoss Core | 2006 |
Zimbra (1,3,4) | Zimbra | Enterprise Email Messaging and Collaboration | 5.0.16 | Zimbra Open Source Edition | 2004 |
Zmanda | Zmanda | File / dbms backup and recovery | 2.6.1 | Zmanda Community Edition | ? |
Zope (3,4) | Zope | Content management system and web portal | 2.10.5 | zope.org | ? |