Ok, I've done some deep reflecting on the merit of open source in general and here my incredibly insightful conclusions that you should be impressed with:
Obviously a software project does not magically become "better" because of an open source license. But what underlying cause is there for the success of projects that I mentioned previously?
I’ll posit that it is the collaboration of businesses that allows for the creation of the "best" software in a given market (it doesn’t guarantee it, just allows for it). For example, Linux is one of the best operating systems because it has ample support from programmers at IBM, Novell, Red Hat, Oracle, etc. Think about many of the popular open source projects: OSGi, Spring, Apache... there are all sorts of companies that make use of these projects, and many that actively contribute resources to them. Some big businesses have the people and money available to develop their own software that would accomplish the same goals as these projects, but why do that when using an open source project will cost less to develop and work just as well or better than a completely in-house solution?
Is this the only possible source of open source success? Of course not, but it seems to be a significant and common cause of success.
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