Economic Impact
Upsides
Software has become immensely important in the economy, providing new opportunities and offering new chances. This has been especially useful in the businesses who have implemented open-software have been able to reduce expenses by a total of 20-30%.
As a result cost efficiency has risen, allowing more extensive growth, which is an economical advantage. However, the difference between software and open-software is important to remember, as it is evident that the issue of intellectual property plays a large role in the impact on the economy. This property allows people to claim something to be theirs, and add complexity to the economic model.
As mentioned before, the open software allows more people to work on something, accelerating innovation and technological development.
Downsides
Despite the aforementioned benefits there are also some downsides. An example is the cost of an open-source software project to promote innovation costs money. These projects often require a different kind value generation to challenge traditional software development.
However, companies have executed this commercially, with companies such as Red Hat using monetized open-source models to provide enterprise level services.
Despite the challenges (research) software has many benefits of being open-source, as it can be used to drive innovation and sustain economic growth for the long term.