Giants Of Open Source And How They Make Money
Tags: opensource, business, kubernetes, cloud
Published: 2020-10-23 17:36:03

Commercial interests are very much part of open source now. Often even when they're not obvious.

Let’s take an example. The Kubernetes project has been a hugely successful open source project with a massive community. There is an open source culture around the Kubernetes project. Nonetheless, **there are commercial motivations in the Kubernetes project and there have been from the beginning**. 

When Kubernetes launched AWS had an intimidating share of the cloud market. The Kubernetes project [effectively commodified container orchestration](https://hackernoon.com/how-did-kubernetes-win-the-container-orchestration-war-lp1l3x01) so that workloads could be run on any cloud, not just AWS. This was a victory for consumer choice. 

Kubernetes was also a victory for Google, with their managed [Google Kubernetes Engine offering then able to grow in market share](https://www.stackrox.com/kubernetes-adoption-and-security-trends-and-market-share-for-containers/). It was also a victory for Red Hat and their OpenShift variation of Kubernetes. This success factored heavily into [IBM’s acquiring Red Hat for $34 billion](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/ibm-closes-landmark-acquisition-red-hat-34-billion-defines-open-hybrid-cloud-future) in 2019.

That’s worth repeating. **A company [dedicated to open source](https://www.redhat.com/en/open-source/red-hat-way) was acquired for $34 billion.** That’s not a one-off either. [Oracle bought open source company Sun](https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/oracle-buys-sun-042009.html) in 2009 for $7.4 billion. GitHub’s status as a home for many of the world’s biggest open source projects was no doubt a factor in Microsoft’s [$7.5 billion acquisition](https://news.microsoft.com/announcement/microsoft-acquires-github/).

**Open Source is big business now.**

Docker may have struggled to make money with open source but the opportunity is real. [Docker Swarm could have made a lot of money had Kubernetes not won out.](https://www.zdnet.com/article/docker-is-in-deep-trouble/)

Google's strategy with Kubernetes is similar to its strategy with web products more generally. Google wants to keep the web open and [force companies like Apple to follow open standards](https://venturebeat.com/2009/11/27/what-are-googles-real-motivations-behind-chrome-os/). The more open the web is, the more users that Google can reach with search, youtube, maps, etc.

More searches translates to revenue via [AdWords and AdSense](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/030416/googles-6-most-profitable-lines-business-googl.asp). We can think of chrome and android as funnels into search, Google's biggest earner.

![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/r7l4ukesqmqpdxxc4tq5.jpeg)

This strategy is called [Commoditising the Complement](https://www.gwern.net/Complement) - you strengthen your offering by making a complementary product so cheaply available that it becomes a commodity.

These examples show us direct commercial motivations but often motivations are less direct. There's lots of commercial motivations. Sometimes there's a company selling support for an open source product. Sometimes the commercial aim might just be good PR for recruitment purposes.

The tech giants have a dominant role in [most of the most popular open source projects](https://insights.dice.com/2019/08/05/open-source-google-microsoft-apple-github/). But that’s not to say that those projects aren’t run with community in mind or that there aren’t ideals in play. **Commercial and idealistic motivations are now mixed together.**