Endosymbiosis / co evolution / evolution by cooperation

For some time biologist Lynn Margulis has been arguing that evolution may proceed through close contact between close relationships between organisms. For instance,
she has argued that eukaryotic cells are the created by symbiosis between
three or four types of bacterials cells. This theory, Serial Endosymbiotic Theory of Euckaryotic Cell Evolution, (SET) has solid supporting evidence based on nucleic acid, microsructure,
and dynamics.
Margulis has also argued that evolution may proceed more through
symbiogeneis than through "natural selection".

Archaeal- eubacterial mergers in the origin of Eukarya
See Proc. Natl. Accad. Sci. USA
Vol. 93, pp. 1071-1076, February 1996 Archaeal- eubacterial mergers in the origin of Eukarya: Phylogenetic classification of life
LYNN MARGULIS

She also argues that treatment of disease may be improved by analyzing
the relationship between the parties as a faulty symbiosis,
Endosymbioses: cyclical and
permanent in evolution
Lynn Margulis and Michael J. Chapman
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY 342 VOL. 6 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 1998

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How does this apply in the software arena?

Software companies, of course, compete, but, may in fact also grow by incorporating complementary software units. All software grows to include a news reader, for instance. This rule may now be modified to include: all software evolves to incorporate an rss feed reader.

Those incorporated units maintain their own functions, but perform that function within the environment of the software.

Open Source software may evolve faster, perhaps, because cooperation may be
emphasized, and encouraged, in contrast to the ecosystem of competition.
see Evolution of Open Source Software