[smarx007]

I have observed two common reactions in companies not willing to sponsor open-source:

1. "Do you mean we will pay money to develop software for our competitors? Murder!"

2. The OSS donations are not seen as business expense but as charity. "We don't do charity."

What we found effective so far is an OSS project, a consulting company and a consulting arrangement where any modifications to the core project will be upstreamed. This way, the company pays money to solve their problem (and not competitors') and it's not seen as charity (it's consulting), while an OSS project goes on. Moreover, the OSS project is itself used as a selling point for the consulting services, as a proof that we will not lock the customer in with some proprietary framework.

[pfranz]

As a peon, I push for open source because I'm tired of doing the same thing at multiple jobs that have nothing to do with our competitive advantage. That goes for a lot of industry collaboration. So much money is quietly wasted on labor that could be saved by standards and open source projects existing.

[yohannparis]

So true! I don't understand why the government does not provide grants to open source projects that help the most people. Things are changing (i.e. Sweden & France using Matrix), but I see some projects like public infrastructure (roads, sewage, power lines.) If they are good and strong enough, a business can piggyback on it and be more efficient.

[voakbasda]

Call me cynical, but I believe more government adoption of open source will occur only when those projects can match the political kickbacks being paid by the proprietary vendors. Corruption is globally endemic, and there is too much money sloshing around to keep politicians honest and working in the interests of The People they purportedly serve.

[pabs3]

I like Debian's approach; there are volunteers and contributors paid to work on the project by external organisations. There are community based gratis support services as well as a long list of consultants around the world offering services, those range from individuals to well known open companies.

[pyb]

Who is "we"? Projects such as VLC tried the consulting approach, but didn't get the outcomes that they'd hoped for.