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Dec 2009
Climate Change:User Perspectives on the Impact of Economic Conditions on Open Source Adoption
We hear a lot about difficult economic conditions actually helping open source software and its vendors, largely based on the promise of cost savings. While lowering costs is often the initial reason for open source adoption, ongoing benefits lie more in flexibility and transformation of business processes.
Reasons for open source adoption vary, but achieving cost savings continues to rank as the top motivator, even when there are not always tools or processes to track these potential savings. Other business factors often come into play when assessing the benefits of open source software, however. Like any technology decision – and especially given the current economic conditions and continued pressure on IT budgets – the adoption of open source requires a business justification, and cost is one of a number of critical factors in this decision.
This report includes a survey of more than 1,700 open source software users and customers, assessing their current attitudes on the key benefits of open source software, including cost and flexibility. It also includes a comparison with a similar survey conducted by The 451 Group in 2006. The report also serves as a practical guide for understanding the financial benefits of open source, and includes an updated version of The 451 Group’s previously published guide for calculating the financial benefits of open source in enterprise IT projects. It provides IT managers, architects, vendors, investors and others with a basic financial analysis approach and calculator to identify and capture the costs and potential benefits of open source software.
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