The open-source movement has already rewritten the rules for how software is licensed and used. Now the computer services market is changing to keep up.

With the number of open-source products on the rise, there has been a surge in services offerings--such as consulting and support--designed specifically for open-source software like Linux, the Apache Web server and MySQL database.

Big companies looking for help in assembling new systems based on unfamiliar open-source programs are fueling a race among providers--some new, some holdovers from the dot-com boom and long before--to become the trusted name in open-source services.

Analysts expect the market to come to a head in 2005.

Open source won't be about the software at all--it will be about the services - Julie Giera, an analyst with Forrester Research said.

The recognition will dawn on people that this is a services play, not a software play.