Have you ever found a recipe on-line that someone else created and end up copying it to make your own? How about taking ideas from it to add to your already existing creation? I've often found inspiration from other's recipes and ended up adding my flare to them, truly making the dish my own. This is quite common in the culinary world.
In the world of software sharing is still suppressed in many sectors including video games and automotive. The culture of sharing was completely against the original culture of Microsoft, IBM, and Apple, but today things are quickly changing. Microsoft now includes backwards compatibility to Linux, often considered a rival.
Software like Google's Android, and even Steem itself, would not be possible without open source software. Sharing is good for humanity.For example Tesla uses the open source Linux kernel for it's vehicles, and many large corporations use some form of GNU/LINUX for their websites.
Free Software shouldn't be thought of as "free" as in price. Rather, free, as in it enables the end user complete freedom to do what they wish with the code. An example of non free software, and how it can harm users, is the current day situation with Facebook using propitiatory software. This software was/is used to manipulate and control business and politics.
Sharing your recipes enables others to see what goes inside them and if a problem exists security wise, also to see if the software does any harm to people. IBM and Microsoft both see value in this proposition, as they both made purchases to place them self better inside the industry. Microsoft purchased Github, while IBM purchased Redhat.
Tesla , a technology company out of Silicon Valley, stated they want to adapt their AI/driver-less vehicle software to be fully open source. They also open source patents, something no other automaker has been able to carry out. Anyone can take advantage of the millions of dollars Tesla spend on these patents, or the driver-less source code, moving technology forward at a faster clip than earlier generations.