The question should probably be, "how can a business benefit from open source," instead of, "how can a business profit from open source." The primary benefit i

The question should probably be, "how can a business benefit from open source," instead of, "how can a business profit from open source." The primary benefit is the ability for businesses with diverse, or even conflicting, interests to collaborate on a project. You won't see many businesses creating and profiting from an open source operating system or development tools. You will see businesses contributing resources to open source operating systems or development tools since they don't have the resources to develop their own and don't want to be bound to conditions stipulated by another business. Consider how much power Microsoft had over the PC industry simply through the licensing of BASIC, DOS, and Windows in the '80s and '90s. Consider how much power Google has over the licensing of closed source components of Android. I suspect the reason why open source works in a handful of domains and not in others depends upon who the end user is. Notably, the end user must have the motivation and skill to participate. If you're developing embedded devices, you probably have the ability to contribute to an open source operating system or development tools. The fact that it contributes to your competitors is nearly irrelevant since everyone needs that infrastructure. If you're a publisher that wants to avoid the escalating costs of Adobe products, you probably lack the skills to contribute to open source alternatives and it doesn't make financial sense to acquire the talent to contribute. Not only is it expensive, but there is no guarantee that your competitors will do the same. As for being a lone open source developer or development firm, that pretty much defies the point of open source. Without collaboration, there is very little reason to pursue open source.