Solutions
Low marginal costs, network effects, and switching costs have combined to
help create a Correct Answer - huge and important industry
Software industry is undergoing significant and broadly impactful change
brought about by several increasingly adopted technologies, including
Correct Answer - open source software, cloud computing, and software as
a service.
Software industry includes Correct Answer - marginal cost, open source
software (OSS), cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and
virtualization
Marginal cost Correct Answer - Cost of producing one more unit of a
product
Is effectively zero to produce an additional copy of a software product
Open source software (OSS) Correct Answer - Software that is free and
where anyone can look at and potentially modify the code
Cloud computing Correct Answer - Replacing computing with services
provided over the Internet
Software as a service (SaaS) Correct Answer - Firm subscribes to a third-
party software and receives a service that is delivered online
Virtualization Correct Answer - Technology that can make a single
computer behave like many separate computers
Can offer a degree of customer preference and lock in Correct Answer -
Network effects and switching cost
Virtualization also Correct Answer - Helps consolidate computing
resources and creates additional savings and efficiencies
Linux Correct Answer - Open source software operating system
, Source code for OSS products Correct Answer - openly shared,
Can be changed and redistributed by anyone.
The practice of conventional software firms Correct Answer - Treat their
intellectual property as closely guarded secrets.
Almost never provide the source code for their commercial products.
LAMP Correct Answer - Acronym for Linux, Apache Web server
software, MySQL database, and Perl/Python/PHP
LAMP Powers Correct Answer - many of the sites visited each day, from
Facebook to YouTube.
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE Correct Answer - Seen by some firms as a
threat that undermines their economic model
OPEN SOURCE Cost Correct Answer - Free alternatives to costly
commercial code can be a tremendous motivator.
OPEN SOURCE Reliability Correct Answer - The more people who look at
a program's code, the greater the likelihood that an error will be caught and
corrected.
OPEN SOURCE Security focused Correct Answer - Technology products
that contain particularly strong security features
OPEN SOURCE Scalability Correct Answer - Ability to either handle
increasing workloads or to be easily expanded to manage workload increases.
OPEN SOURCE Agility and time to market Correct Answer - Vendors able
to skip whole segments of the software development process, allowing new
products to reach the market faster
Many open source projects are Correct Answer - very well maintained
with tightly coordinated contribution armies overseen by well-funded, paid
professionals