From the very beginning of computing when computers were giant spindles working to slowly decode German ciphers, to the early days of more modern software development when coding was done using punch cards there existed a sense of community amongst developers. Software was freely shared amongst individuals to prevent duplicate work, to share information, and to show off technical prowess. Some people long for a return to those days and that community, others believe that the quality of code produced through open source techniques is better then for proprietary code, and others believe that software is like speech and longs to be free. No matter what your stance, open source software empowers developers by allowing them to share their efforts to best meet their goals in ways that proprietary software does not.

While the technical merits of OSS software development is discussed in the section on providers, here is a list of alternative reasons that a developer may want to use OSS, participate in the movement, and possibly convince their organization to make the switch.

Political: ".. software the user can't freely modify 'takes over' her computer in a way that limits her ability to create, to protect her privacy, and to achieve other goals associated with the personal autonomy we call 'freedom'."

http://emogen.law.columbia.edu/publications/lu-07.html
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html

Practical ("Scratch an Itch") : As a developer you have limited time and resources, but you want to have a certain piece of software that is not currently available. You can stake out your little piece of the internet and build a developer community aimed at creating the software, or you can find an existing project to build off of.

Mercenary: Linux is an increasingly deployed software platform, developing software for it will strategically place you as a skilled developer/administrator who is looking to make over 100,000$ a year.

Experience: In a very competitive software industry the job market for recent graduates, even graduates with an upper level degree is fairly soft. Having a body of work which shows that you know more then theory makes you much more employable.

Employment: If your Open Source project is one with serious commercial applications you may get consultant work as a specialist in your software package.

Fame: Although you may not be as famous as J. Lo., the Open Source community recognizes skilled developers with acclaim. This recognition may result in more tangible benefits like free trips to speak at conferences or to teach seminars.

Artistry: The OSS movement includes some of the greatest software developers of all time. The elegance in design of the EMACS editor, the simplicity of the UNIX utilities sytem, and even the failures of certain device drivers will teach you about the elegance of software design which is as much an art as an engineering discipline.