Previously, I have asked what happens to the software industry if enterprises expect to acquire their software for free via open source.Well, it looks like this expectation is coming to fruition. A Wells Fargo executive at the SDForum’s “Open Source Entering the Mainstream” conference this week said the tide has switched from companies being suspect of open source to now openly seeking it out as an alternative to commercial products.Which leads us back to the question of what happens to innovation if at some point there is no money being made on the actual selling of software. As one panelist pointed out at the conference, business models for open source companies remain unproven at this point. Linux official Andrew Morton even acknowledged that leading-edge projects in open source have been the exception; open source has focused on legacy infrastructure. How long can open source be sustained if developers have to work a separate job to pay the bills and deal with open source as a hobby? I guess that depends on the devotion of the developers, whose dedication to their craft is certainly admirable and even enviable. The fate of commercial software companies caught in the open source wave will be a big issue for the industry in coming years. SpikeSource CEO Kim Polese stressed at the conference that companies will have to adapt to the new paradigm presented by open source.I have to wonder, though, whether the days are numbered for software companies to make billions of dollars a year by selling software. Technology Industry