Can you afford (not) to use open-source software?

72% of companies use open-source software (OSS) according to the 2018 Open Source Program Management Survey. Many of them have copyleft licence conditions: Any changes must be published with the same permissions. I often have discussions if we can “afford” OSS in the following sense: Should we really take time to contribute to the open source community? And more important: Should we really let others—potentially competitors—benefit from our work?

New research gives a clear answer: YES we should! Companies that allow their software engineers to “give back” to the OSS community gain benefits according to a study by Harvard Business School Professor Frank Nagle. The reason for that benefit lies in the experience and knowledge that employees gain through contributing.