The vision of the customer and, by extension, the target market is essential for defining a sound business strategy for the company. Nonetheless, the company must complete its strategy by taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of the free software model and, more specifically, the particular business model it exploits.
Companies that commercially exploit free software should be aware of and realistic about the environment in which they operate. All the special features of free software, customers and the business model exploited need to be identified and analysed before it can formalise a realistic and appropriate strategy to secure its aims.
In this section, we will look initially at the advantages and disadvantages of the free software model for business before analysing the strategies associated with business models based on free software.