12 Reasons for Growth of Open Source

Netscape Co-Founder Marc Andreessen's 12 Reasons for Growth of Open Source [LinuxWorld]

1. "The Internet is powered by open source."
2. "The Internet is the carrier for open source."
3. "The Internet is also the platform through which open source is developed."
4. "It's simply going to be more secure than proprietary software."
5. "Open source benefits from anti-American sentiments."
6. "Incentives around open source include the respect of one's peers."
7. "Open source means standing on the shoulders of giants."
8. "Servers have always been expensive and proprietary, but Linux runs on Intel."
9. "Embedded devices are making greater use of open source."
10. "There are an increasing number of companies developing software that aren't software companies."
11. "Companies are increasingly supporting Linux."
12. "It's free."

It is interesting that Marc Andreessen would be an advocate of Open Source. Remember Mosaic, Netscape Browser and Server were all closed source commercial applications. Only the beta versions of the browser were free downloads. It wasn't until after Microsoft made Internet Explorer a free download did Netscape respond by making Netscape free. Granted Andreesen was still with Netscape when they released their browser open source. Maybe he learned his lesson. Of course the Netscape server is still closed source, so it really doesn't fit with his first point.

Anyone care to publish a rebuttal?