"The "open-source" process of creating things is quickly becoming a threat and an opportunity to businesses of all kinds. Though the term at first described a model of software development (where the underlying programming code is open to inspection, modification and redistribution), the approach has moved far beyond its origins. From legal research to biotechnology, open-business practices have emerged as a mainstream way for collaboration to happen online. New business models are being built around commercialising open-source wares, by bundling them in other products or services. Though these might not contain any software source code, the open-source label can now apply more broadly to all sorts of endeavour that amalgamate the contributions of private individuals to create something that, in effect, becomes freely available to all.
However, it is unclear how innovative and sustainable open source can ultimately be. The open-source method has vulnerabilities that must be overcome if it is to live up to its promise. For example, it lacks ways of ensuring quality and it is still working out better ways to handle intellectual property."
Interesting article here. Wikipedia is provided as an example of "quality problems" and there have been some well publicised examples recently where Wikipedia articles have been intentionally subverted or just plain wrong. However I think that the case for Open Source improving quality is far more compelling. The process of peer review eliminates errors more efficiently than can be achieved with closed source.
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