55% of the US government dabbling in open source
(Credit:
Federal Open Source Alliance)
When you read things like this report from the Federal Open Source Alliance, you've got to feel for Microsoft, Oracle, etc. They're making bank today, but if open source trends continue, the future will look very different from today's lock-em-in and fleece-them-hard model.
Across the globe, governments have led the adoption of open-source software. The United States, however, has tended to lag behind (followed by the United Kingdom). Recent numbers, however, indicate that we're picking up open-source steam here in the USA.
Consider the following numbers gleaned from FOOA's survey of Department of Defense, Federal civilian, and Intelligence IT executives:
- 71% of all US federal respondents believe that their agency can benefit from open source (with 88% within the intelligence community holding this view because of advanced security within open source);
- 55% of all respondents have been or are involved in an open-source implementation (and 90% of those that have implemented believe they have benefited from it - talk about killer approval ratings - which may be why 29% of those who have not implemented are planning to do so in the next 12 months...);
- Respondents (who have implemented) cite advanced security as the top benefit open source delivers. This was the top reason at 30% of respondents, and it's somewhat odd since 34% of those who have done implementations cite security as open source's biggest challenge (while another 27% are worried that open-source solutions will become proprietary);
- Only 1-3% of open-source implementations were deemed "unsuccessful." That's a pretty great hit rate
(Credit:
Federal Open Source Alliance)
Open source is truly ascendant. It's nice to have my tax dollars recognizing this. I can say from personal Alfresco experience that open-source applications (at least content management) is booming within the federal government. We've closed deals with several of the US' largest federal agencies, with more joining each month.
It's a very good time to be in open source.
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. 
I like the momentum but we need more of it over here - our opposition party (the Conservatives) are making lots of good noises but they are - in opposition - so don't have any real power. Promote Open Source to your local MP...