"Open-Source represents some revolutionary concepts being thrown at an industry. It gives customers control over the technologies they use, instead of enabling the vendors to control their customers through restricting access to the code behind the technologies. [However], supplying open-source tools to the market will require new business models." Bob Young, Chairman and CEO, Red Hat

Since Young's prognosticating over a decade ago, Open-Source software (OSS) has come of age. And with it a number of maturing business models now allow companies to capitalise on its much heralded benefits whilst mitigating the business risks inherent in the implementation of any new technology. This article considers the structure and rationale behind the business models that are fuelling the proliferation of OSS, and examines how they seek to mitigate the perceived risks without compromising the benefits of OSS for the customer.