Brightstorm are big advocates of the Open Source Initiative.

In its inception, the internet was constructed by many of its builders with the intention of creating a democratic platform for the simple exchange of information. Of course this also had massive commercial application, so some of those that helped to build it in the first place are now gigantic organized companies and corporations with their own agenda and shareholder obligations. In order to defend their market share, important information and developments are kept under wraps, both from competing companies and the general public - or else it can't be sold so effectively.

The Open Source global community is the antithesis of this kind of private interest on the world wide web. It's not a company and has no shareholders, consisting of a fluctuating group of like minded, skilled individuals who haven't lost faith in the concept of a democratic internet - in fact, they view it as an inevitability. For every Adobe or Microsoft application, there is an Open Source equivalent, owned by nobody, free to use and share, and developed by experts who are often employed by the very same giants of computing.

As nothing is bought or sold, those involved are able to share information without the constraints of competing partisan commercial concerns (which so often prevent the release of the best product for the consumer).

"Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in."
esr on opensource.org

It helps a lot when the only people doing a job are people who've gone out of their way to do it - because they want to without being paid to. Provided they actually do it, that is - it does sound more like a pipe dream than a reality! But it already works - and here's the evidence: