Is Open Source The Key To Innovation?

Harish Pillay | ZD Net | August 6, 2014

...Collaboration is a core component of modern business, and over the years, collaborative efforts have resulted in some of the world's most groundbreaking innovations, in the areas of technology, medicine and engineering. The opportunities are seemingly endless when people unite and work together, whether within a single organization or across many.  But what if this collaborative ethos is extended to include practically every human being on earth? Are there any limitations on what can be accomplished?

That is the question that open source initiatives are seeking to answer as they aim to forever change how we businesses think about technology and collaboration. Without open source, many of today’s top technology initiatives – from cloud computing to big data and mobile – would simply not exist as we know them. In the enterprise software world for instance, OpenStack – a popular open source cloud computing platform – is changing how organizations manage multiple cloud deployments with new levels of innovation, efficiency and simplicity.

The ability to invite the entire world to continuously improve a product or technology is now no longer a dream, and is happening before our eyes. So, just how can open source herald a new era of innovation...