Born(e) (out?) of the desire

Both borne and born are past participle forms of bear. borne is a general term intended to convey the idea of carrying something; born is specific to birth, as in literal or figurative childbirth.

So (in contradiction to my earlier answer, which I now agree was incorrect): in your case, "born of the desire" is correct, in that the desire gave birth (metaphorically) to the software that was created.

http://grammarist.com/spelling/borne-born/

http://www.grammarunderground.com/0073-born-of-or-borne-of.html

http://lessons.englishgrammar101.com/EnglishGrammar101/Module6/Lesson6-18.aspx

• xyz was born out of the desire to... (correct)
• xyz was born of the desire to... (correct)
• xyz was borne out of the desire to... (correct)
• xyz was borne of the desire to... (correct)
• xyz was born of desire to... (incorrect)
• xyz was borne of desire to... (incorrect)

In your specific case, xyz was born out of the desire to... is the best one to use. Still, it is acceptable to use xyz was borne out of the desire to... as well.

xyz was born out of the desire to fulfill a vacuum in the ABC industry.

Born because it has given rise to the need to address a given issue.

xyz was borne out of the desire to carry on ABC's legacy in the industry.

Borne because it has been created to continue on (to carry on).

The other forms are older versions of stating the same. If you read Oscar Wilde or authors with a similar style from that time, you will find the style used quite often. In fact, if you're writing something as a creative document or opinion, it might be better to use the other form (xyz was born(e) of the desire to...) as it sounds a bit more nostalgic poetic (in a sense).

OED: "this assumption is not borne out by any evidence"

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bear

Fun with born vs borne! Let’s start with the idioms!

An idiom is an expression peculiar to itself, see Merriam Webster,idiom def., and as such is exempt from the conventional rules of grammar, see dictionary.com, idiom def.

Bear fruit, born out of, and born of, are idioms, according to the M-W definitions of those expressions, so let’s let them be and not worry about them!

Both born and bear have numerous meanings, but I’ll just deal with the relevant ones here!

Born and bear can both pertain to childbirth. Born is child centered, see google word search...and bear is mother centered, see Cambridge Dict., bear def.

Conjugations: born, born,born,seecooljugator.com...bear,bore,borne, see cooljugator.com, and see Cambridge Dict. Borne past participle.Also see Cambridge “Born or Borne”

Examples:

• A child is born every minute.
• He was born in 1950.
• He wished he had been born in another era.
• She assented to bear a child.
• She bore a child.
• She had borne six children in her lifetime.

Born also means birth of our ideas,see Cambridge def., to yield,bring forth, see M-W born, also Collins, google(New Oxford American) def, and Reverso def...same born, born, born declension.

Examples: A new business was born. A Star is born. Born-again.

Note that the above examples are not metaphors since they are based on the official dictionary definition of born.

A closing note...

Bear,bore,borne also mean prove, confirm... or carry, or tolerate Cambridge Dict., bear, def. Examples:

• His predictions were borne out!
• The illness was mosquito-borne.
• He is a veteran of the 22nd Airborne Division.
• He bore the weight of his mistakes!
• The small truck can’t bear the load!
• I can’t bear another pill!
• The cost will be borne by the taxpayers. Who else?

Thank you for reading this disquisition!