How does the open-source model of application development and distribution differ from the more common, proprietary approach?

Question:

How does the open-source model of application development and differ from the more common, proprietary approach? Do open-source applications present a legitimate threat to commercial software development, or will they remain niche applications? Break into small groups to discuss various reasons that the companies may or may not want to adopt open source technologies.

Distribution
The word "distribution" has several meanings in the financial world, most of them pertaining to the payment of assets from a fund, account, or individual security to an investor or beneficiary. Retirement account distributions are among the most...