The Rise of Free Business

While browsing through O’Reilly’s blog, who is always spot on, I just came across a brilliant article in the FT under the rather clumsy title ‘Why Give Aways are Changing the Rules of Business’. The author in fact writes about what OpenBusiness is about and writes:

“Never in history has so much innovation been offered to so many for so little. The world’s most exciting businesses – technology, transport, media, medicine and finance – are increasingly defined by the word “free”.”

While he does not touch on the issue of copyright, patents (and IP in general) as a means to do business in a closed way (and to monoplize ideas), he provides a good overview of a trend which leads to more consumer choice and to more “free” products and services.