Mysql And Open Source

Open innovation is the use of purposive inflow and outflow of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation as well as to expand the markets for external use of innovation. The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead use a mix of internal as well as external ideas. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company (e.g., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs). The concept of open innovation is important since a plethora of information is available today from external sources like universities (where research is funded by government and private companies), other companies as well as start-ups funded by venture capitalists. In addition, the mobility and availability of a large number of skilled people make open innovation even more relevant. Companies would be mistaken if they try to be fully vertically integrated with everything from fundamental research till final development done in-house only.

However, an important concept associated with the open innovation paradigm is the significance of business model. Shafer defines business model as a “representation of a firm’s underlying core logic and strategic choices for creating and capturing value within a value network”. Specifically, the functions of the business model are to articulate the value proposition, identify market segment, define the structure of the firm’s value chain, specify revenue generating mechanism, define cost structure and formulate a competitive strategy. The importance of business model is that it serves as an intermediate link between the technical and economic domains....

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... GPL and use it without fees. However, they would have to pay a fee if they wanted a commercial version of the MySQL. Commercial MySQL software could be distributed with non-open source software, included a warranty from MySQL and came with a development support. MySQL used its open source status as a viral marketing vehicle to penetrate markets. It used the booming Internet successfully for marketing purposes. Also, it identified other players in the value chain and took part in the creation of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) protocol, which soon became an acronym for coherent OSS building blocks. This is a how a successful business model enabled MySQL to derive profit from open innovation and enabled it to create value in the chain as well as to derive value for itself.

Reference:

1. “My SQL Open Source Database in 2004” – Stanford Graduate School of Business