An excellent and thorough essay by Tim O'Reilly on the paradigm shift in ICT engendered by the free software revolution, and on how the key concepts to profitability are not directly the GNU Manifesto or the Open Source Definition but in the interplay gap between those movements and what Tim calls the Three Cs of commoditization, collaboration, and customizability.

If open source pioneers are to benefit from the revolution we've unleashed, we must look through the foreground elements of the free and open source movements, and understand more deeply both the causes and consequences of the revolution.

Tim illustrates how the hardware industry commoditization parallels to what we see today in software, and reminds us how many of the very top money-makers in the infoware industry today are proud to flash their free-software credentials because, when you're a Google, you don't even try to sell shrink-wrap or consulting support contracts, but instead you sell the software as a service.

[ Source: The Open Source Paradigm Shift ]