What Makes An Open Source Project Successful?

[rakib]

Is the enthusiasm for open source software projects a "bubble" ready to burst and take the model down with it? That's what the CEO of one of the most successful open source projects thinks, even while a new crop of software--his included--is taking its place among the most established.

"Right now, open source is hot," says Rod Johnson, author of the Spring Java development framework and CEO of Interface21, the company he founded to market it. Most open source projects are supported by an army of volunteers who buy into the hype, but "capitalism will inevitably reassert itself" and developers will find they need to put more effort into steady jobs and private lives, leaving "open source zombies"--unsupported, unmaintained projects--he predicts.

For full story at What Makes An Open Source Project Successful? - Yahoo! News

[dhscott]

What makes open source popular is that it is free. That's the biggest advantage I think most people associate with open source software.

[gibsongk55]

Not to mention having a great need for the software that will be used by many.

Gibs

[ericstan]

You can have a super OS project but without users it's kinda useless.