Q. I just don't understand how one can develop a business model around open source--after all the resource is freely available.

A. Open source business models continue to be a source of great puzzlement, yet the situation is not so different from monetizing Natural Resources. With Natural Resources such as minerals, oil, wildlife, and water, the primary asset is some Natural Resource, which, historically, has and continues to be viewed as free. Similarly, open source software assets are generally and freely available.

Recently a Carleton University student asked his professor "how do you make money from open source?" An excellent question for which there is no short answer. If anything, it appears to lead to a conundrum: aren't the motivators behind open source diametrically opposed to those that drive business? Dig deeper and you'll find that open source and business have much to gain from each other. The difficulty is finding accurate information from those who understand both the business and open source environments.

"In the past, innovation was defined largely by creativity and the development of new ideas. Today the term encompasses coordinated projects directed toward honing these ideas and converting them into developments that boost the bottom line."

Howard Smith, Computer Sciences Corporation

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

Douglas Adams

The Eclipse community has established the best existing model for multiple corporations to create innovation networks, enabling co-operation on the development of product-ready open source software. This really is the best of both worlds: the openness, transparency and meritocracy of open source with the resources and commitment of corporations both large and small.

"The future is here. It is just not widely distributed yet."

William Gibson

The Talent First Network (TFN) is the publisher of The Open Source Business Report (OSBR). For this reason it is important that we describe what the TFN is about in the inaugural issue of the OSBR. This article first describes the network's mission, launch, and initiatives and then in the last section raises awareness that:

"We did an internal review of the innovation infrastructure in place in Ontario and discovered we needed more of the right kinds of money and more of the right kinds of people."

Premier Dalton McGuinty

Launched in June 2005, the Ontario Research Commercialization Program (ORCP) is a key element in the government's strategy to help business innovators take their products to market. ORCP helps Ontario's researchers and entrepreneurs to combine their expertise to help commercialize their innovations and create high-value jobs.

"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it."

Genesis 2:16-17

In the Garden of Eden, God made His statement on prohibiting the consumption of the fruit of knowledge. Maybe this is the first ever known License! And, we all know the story of denial of this statement by Adam and Eve.