Company engagement in open source (OSS) is now the new norm. From large technology companies to startups, companies are participating in the OSS ecosystem by open-sourcing their technology, sponsoring projects through funding or paid developer time. However, our understanding of the OSS ecosystem is rooted in the 'old world' model where individual contributors sustain OSS projects. In this work, we create a more comprehensive understanding of the hybrid OSS landscape by investigating what motivates companies to contribute and how they contribute to OSS. We conducted interviews with 20 participants who have different roles (e.g., CEO, OSPO Lead, Ecosystem Strategist) at 17 different companies of different sizes from large companies (e.g. Microsoft, RedHat, Google, Spotify) to startups. Data from semi-structured interviews reveal that company motivations can be categorized into four levels (Founders' Vision, Reputation, Business Advantage, and Reciprocity) and companies participate through different mechanisms (e.g., Developers' Time, Mentoring Time, Advocacy & Promotion Time), each of which tie to the different types of motivations. We hope our findings nudge more companies to participate in the OSS ecosystem, helping make it robust, diverse, and sustainable.

翻译：企业参与开源（OSS）现已成为新常态。从大型科技公司到初创企业，各类型公司正通过开源自有技术、提供资金赞助或资助开发者时间等方式，积极参与开源生态系统。然而，我们对开源生态系统的认知仍根植于“旧世界”模式——即由个体贡献者维系开源项目。本研究通过探究企业参与开源软件的动机与方式，构建了对混合型开源格局更全面的理解。我们对17家不同规模企业（涵盖微软、红帽、谷歌、Spotify等大型企业及初创公司）中承担不同角色（如CEO、开源项目办公室负责人、生态战略师）的20位参与者进行了半结构化访谈。访谈数据表明，企业动机可归纳为四个层级（创始人愿景、声誉、商业优势、互惠互利），且企业通过差异化机制（如开发者投入时间、导师指导时间、倡导推广时间）参与其中，各类机制均与不同动机类型紧密关联。我们期望研究结论能推动更多企业参与开源生态系统，助力其构建强健、多元且可持续的发展格局。