Why Participate?

Today I was asked a question that went something like this....

“Why should we participate in a Free Software project if it's possible for our competitors to benefit from our efforts?”

I wasn't really comfortable with the answer I provided at the time so I'm going to take a second stab at it....

"You'll get better results at less cost choosing Free Software than you will from proprietary software and maximizing the benefits of Free Software can only be achieved through participation in the community."

Of course you can choose not to do this and stick with proprietary solutions or maybe even sit on the fence and be a passive Free Software consumer but that doesn't stop your competitors from doing the smart thing and maximizing the potential of Free Software.

The right choice is to use the best tools at your disposal in the most effective manner you know how and hope that your competitors are not smart enough to do the same.

Of course in most cases, today, it's unlikely that your competition will have come to understand the benefits of Free Software yet, so you'll have a considerable head start in learning how to effectively participate in the Free Software community.

In fact I'll even go out on a limb and say that the concept of Free Software is so foreign to most businesses and the benefits of using it so great that it could be a decisive advantage to any business able to grok it.