A discussion is provided of the ways in which CEOs can respond to open source, which is described as a force and trend that is turning our industry upside-down, causing all of us to re-think how we run our business. CEOs are advised to begin an open source pilot project to obtain hands-on experience and to obtain a better view of the value of open source. IT managers and programmers should be trained on the business risks inherent in open source. CEOs are advised to learn and evaluate the ways in which open source can help the business by providing new growth opportunities, reducing development expense, and shortening product development cycles. The value of open sourcing of the company's proprietary code should also be explored, and a software adoption intellectual property (IP) review policy should be established before beginning the open source pilot project. Open source is anathema to Microsoft, based on statements from Steve Ballmer, but Richard Stallman, the pioneering founder of the free software movement, believes open source is a natural right and that software should be freely available among thinking, learning beings that can think and learn. Stallman says sharing useful knowledge is a basic act of comradeship. Among topics covered are the reasons that open source is a disruptive technology and the potential of open source to quickly commoditize and threaten current market leaders. Also discussed are the ways in which conventional software companies are already finding value in use of open source.