Open source gains while proprietary software declines
It used to be so easy to be a proprietary-software vendor.
That is, until the open-source neighbors moved in. As noted in a Gartner analysis from late last year, proprietary software is on the wane within enterprises while open source is gaining:
Open source gaining at proprietary's expense
(Credit: Gartner)That's not the sort of chart that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer likes to wake up to, but it's a message to which CIOs are increasingly warming.
The reason? Well, cost is the primary driver for open-source consideration, as a recent Forrester report suggests, but what is most significant is the overwhelmingly positive experience CIOs are having with open source, as this same Forrester report suggests.
Consider the following responses to the question, "How has open-source software met your organization's expectations in the following areas?":
- Reduced costs...87 percent (met or exceeded expectations).
- Improved quality...92 percent.
- Eased integration and customization...86 percent.
- Quickened the pace of innovation...82 percent.
- Improved support...84 percent.
- Standards compliance...91 percent.
- Decreased time to market...82 percent.
These are numbers that money can't buy. In fact, the open-source world is giving them away...literally.
Open-source software isn't perfect, and its quality varies widely, just as in the proprietary-software world. But unlike proprietary software, open source actively de-risks the IT purchasing decision by enabling you to try before you buy, buy on subscription (i.e., no long-term commitment), and pay a lot less for equal or greater value.
Small wonder, then, that CIOs are voting with their wallets, buying into open source while cutting investments in proprietary software.
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. 
The chaos is still working itself out . . . but I don't see alot of Open Source staying open. If they do what is the development push?
If they get stupid, a fork will happen.
They will just let it die slowly through neglect. At the moment, I don't see any company willing to invest in the resources required to maintain a forked MySQL.
http://askmonty.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
A fork, with funding, with Monty Widenius himself and others of the original team.
I still think Oracle would have to be in some way brain-damaged to not try their best with MySQL but if they don't the alternative is already available.
The trouble with predictions of what one will do next year is that they're influenced by the respondent's perception of what the survey taker, and the world in general, think they ought to do. It's "in" to go OSS rather than proprietary, so that's what CIOs say they'll do - often without realizing why they say it. What they actually do when the time comes, and they have to deal with all the internal and external pressures that don't arise when they're filling out a questionnaire, can be quite different.
I'm not against open source, this may well happen, but we can't
- by pentest April 20, 2009 12:57 PM PDT
- The largest benefit is that each company controls the source. If they need add-on functionality, they are not at the mercy of a company who will likely ignore the request. They can do it themselves internally or hire it out.
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