1. The document discusses how being open by providing APIs and data access allows for the creation of innovative applications through communities of developers, such as mashups that combine different data sources. 2. Benefits of being open include enabling affiliate relationships to support e-commerce, increasing brand reach, building community-driven apps, solving unique problems, and facilitating innovative software development. 3. The key takeaway is that being open from a software perspective provides accessible data that motivates developers to build apps, solving their own problems and those of others. Companies that do not practice some openness risk losing market share.