As with standard manufacturing, software development initially built all parts in-house. Over time, the number of projects integrating third-party software components has increased dramatically. We now estimate upwards of 90% of software use elements from community-driven software projects.
Development teams all over the world now use software from these projects, which use readily-visible internals known as “open source” to rapidly prototype, develop, and ship software.
Today, software is less written and more assembled, with the average modern applications made up of 70–90% open source components. And just like regular supply chains, those who can optimize their software supply chain are succeeding in the wake of entrenched rivals (think Zoom and Slack versus Skype and Google Chat).