Why Open Source Source Does Not Succeed

Competition with proprietary software encourages open source developers to respond to users’ needs. Open source developer with pragmatic motivations will prefer the BSD, while those with ideological motivations will prefer the GPL. Copycat OS software is unlikely to be compatible with proprietary software, but more likely to have user interfaces than innovative OS software. 

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OS Developers Care About Competition: The Case of LaTeX

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Developed over three decades, the open source LaTeX typesetting software came into competition with a variety of open source and proprietary alternatives. This case study shows that OS developers are concerned about users’ needs and this motivates them to attract users by competing with proprietary software in terms of usability. 

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