"An ecosystem is a unit of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat." - Definition: Ecosystem on Wikipedia .

Software comprises a symbiotic ecosystem that functions in much the same way as ecosystems found in nature. The various elements interact with one another, thereby providing a complete solution to users. ISVs and SaaS companies are part of the ecosystem of open source software (OSS), yet some of these companies are referred to as vampires, leeches, parasites and freeloaders because they don’t give back code to the community software.

Pardon my quick digression, but parasites are valuable members of any ecosystem. They do the dirty work of cleaning the ecosystem and turning waste into valuable food and fertilizer for the ecosystem. Consider, for example how your neighborhood …

Lately, there has been some talk about how users who do not feed code changes back into the open source codebase are "leeches " or "freeloaders ". This perspective demonstrates an incredible naiveté. Whether your customers never feedback a single line of code, they are adding tremendous value by the mere fact that they use your product. Let me explain.

First, what is more valuable: (1) a wonderful open source application used by 10 users who all provide code back to the community version; or (2) a closed source product with 200M users (think Microsoft Word)? Users are the most valuable asset a piece of software can have.

Much of this value is driven by the network effect . The more people who …