Open Source as Business Model

Article about how some companies are making public their source code as an attempt to gain competitive advatage:
Open source: The newest competitive tool

  A few years ago, releasing once-secret source code to the public would have been a highly unusual first move for a company with a newly acquired software product line.

But that's exactly what Integrated Computer Solutions is announcing this week with the Project.net project management software it bought Jan. 1. And it's a move that today is downright ordinary. Open-source software has become not only increasingly mainstream, but it's also often a way for a company to gain advantage over a proprietary rival with a close guard over its software's underlying instructions.