Commercial Companies
Commercial companies outside of the software space.
Relationships With Other Aspects
Timescale aspect changes: long,
Scope of aspect: medium,
Relationship with other aspects: ecosystem, company,
Primary focus: ecosystem
Sustainability Aspects
Non-software companies use software for their business, but are less likely to care where it comes from.
Companies see software as IT tools to run business processes, but aren’t necessarily critical to their strategy.
Many companies aren’t aware of their whole supply chain, or how many FOSS components they use.
Non-Software Companies
Corporations outside of the software space are still major consumers of software, and in some cases do contribute back to open source projects. While they are not usually as engaged as software-producing companies, most larger corporations do have some level of contribution back to open source projects they use. However awareness of FOSS impact varies widely, and often is not on the radar of many corporate leaders.
Besides the ecosystem and type of company (i.e. relation to technology internally), a critical factor in sustainability here is awareness of the open source impact. Companies that are aware of the breadth of open source technology they consume can be good contributors back to communities.
Ideas and References
- TODO Group’s segmentation of OSPOs by organization and potential motivations