Well with all the upsides of open source software and tech I think the downside is that it's a lot slower than a well oiled machine of a company.

WP code is open source, that's why people outside the company can develop themes and plugins. It was a bet Automation took a long time ago, and it took a while before their model caught, but look at them now.

The advantage is that Steem and many dapps on the blockchain (including the condenser) are also open source. If we gain more popularity, more devs will join in.

I think the strength of Steem though is that it's hard to kill and can survive on little to no income which a company can't.

I think of the traditional org structure of companies like sprinters and something like Steem like a marathon runner. It's not fast, but it doesn't stop.

I agree, Steem is very hard to kill as a blockchain, in a race against multi-billion dollars blockchains it can be the turtle that never gives up and might even win the race. Steemit however is a company, and needs profit to keep going. So are others on the blockchain.