Forrester: Lots of room for open-source growth
Recent survey data compiled by Forrester Consulting on behalf of information systems specialist Bull suggests that we're at the front end of a long cycle of open-source infrastructure and application adoption.
That's right. Despite Gartner finding that 85 percent of enterprises have already adopted open source and Forrester Research's consulting arm finding that 45 percent of all companies that are using open-source software use it for mission-critical applications, the adoption appears to be somewhat thin, leaving a great deal of room for even more adoption, especially in open-source applications:
Huge swaths of the market have apparently adopted open-source infrastructure like the Linux operating system, JBoss application server, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and other open-source systems:
Open-source Infrastructure Adoption, 2008
(Credit: Forrester Research)But the bigger and longer-term opportunity appears to be in open-source applications, which have only lightly been adopted, according to the survey:
Open-source Application Adoption, 2008
(Credit: Forrester Research)Red Hat has built a $650 million business by selling support for Linux and JBoss, a business that continues to grow and thrive. This, however, is a tiny tip of an enormous $222 billion enterprise software iceberg, with enterprise applications making up a huge chunk of that iceberg.
In other words, Red Hat demonstrates that open source can compete effectively in the enterprise, and the enterprise clearly has a lot more room in which open-source vendors, and perhaps particularly open-source application vendors, can grow.
Even better, the recession is forcing many IT buyers to re-evaluate purchasing strategies in order to save costs, with open source increasingly getting the nod. IDC found that the recession is driving even more adoption of Linux, and new Forrester data suggests that cost savings will help open source well beyond Linux:
Motivations Driving Open-Source Adoption, 2009
(Credit: Forrester Research)Whatever your corner of the open-source market, it's a fantastic time to be in open source. If you're a customer, you get the benefit of reduced cost with minimal lock-in. If you're a vendor, you get to sell a superior value proposition in a tough market. And if you're a proprietary vendor, you get to watch. Everyone wins. :-)
Disclosure: I am an employee of Alfresco, an open-source enterprise collaboration and content management vendor.
Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
Nobody's talking about the "year of the Linux". He was talking about Open Source adoption in Enterprises along with the numbers to back him up.
You, on the other hand, just made a claim with no evidence. I've seen enough of your comments to know not to take you at your word.
Color me shocked.
- by obvio-capitao April 5, 2009 6:20 AM PDT
- Matt,
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(4 Comments)Sorry about the off-topic, but this is something that must be stopped:
Someone is advertising OpenOffice in Google, and requiring payment for downloads -- after the download is made.
The homepage says: "OpenOffice.org is an office suite completely compatible with Microsoft Office, but with the major advantage that it is free."
The payment information is hidden in the "legal terms":
"Before using the Premium services offered by VARULKO TRADING S.A. (hereinafter the "Company") through the website (hereinafter the "Website") shall carefully read these Usage Conditions. If these are not acceptable, do not access the Premium Services of VARULKO TRADING S.A. and immediately close this page, as the request or download of software imply the acceptance of these Usage Conditions."
Selling free software is not wrong, if done clearly. The problem is to put a big "download" button and, after the download, let the user know that he must pay for it.
Worse yet:
"These Usage Conditions regulate the high speed download of software, virus and spyware free (the "Service") by the "Company" to the user through the Website."
http://openoffice-full.info/nl/