State of Open Source Adoption
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Underwritten for a limited time courtesy of Red Hat.
High Approval, Steep Expectations
IT is convinced that open source software provides a lower total cost of ownership compared with closed source applications, key in a tight economy. Access to code and perceived tighter security are also selling points. But could the rise of open source in the enterprise be derailed by a dearth of support?
When selecting applications to meet growing business needs, enterprise IT organizations have more options than ever. But has the overabundance of commercial, open source, and hybrid software choices really made our lives easier, or just added more complexity to an already lengthy evaluation and buying process?
We say, vive la différence. Throw SaaS and cloud offerings into the mix, and let the competition begin.
If there's one silver lining to a slowing economy, it's that business leaders who may once have dismissed open source software (OSS) out of hand are likely now willing to take a second look. What they'll find, once the dust has settled over endless feature comparisons and SaaS vs. in-house discussions, is that overall, OSS really is less expensive than closed software over the long term. An in-house deployment of OSS, while perhaps not simple, can lessen the risk of an undercapitalized SaaS vendor going south and taking your data with it.
IT pros get all that. Although the subject has been overanalyzed and talked to death, total cost of ownership for OSS is the major driver for the 557 business technology professionals responding to our InformationWeek Analytics State Of Open Source survey. Of course, closed source advocates counter that TCO doesn't always account for the "soft" costs inherent in supporting OSS, and in fact, these intangibles are the single largest drag on open source adoption, in our poll. However, if you can swing it, now may be the time for intrepid organizations to snatch up high-quality IT talent, move their organizations to OSS, and reap the benefits of lower TCO for years to come.
This Report is No Longer Available
Report was underwritten for a limited time by Red Hat.
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Research Synopsis
- Missed Opportunities
- Impact Assessment
- Not All Free
- A Day In The Life
- Fast And Furious
- Desktops: The Last OSS Frontier
- License To Bill
- Security In Openness
- Virtually Open
- Outlook: Cloudy
- Cost/Business Balance
- Plan Of Attack
- Road Ahead
- The Differences Between Open Source Licenses
About the Author
Michael A. Davis
Savid Technologies
Michael A. Davis is the CEO of Savid Technologies, Inc., a technology and security consulting firm based in Chicago.
Michael is a contributing author of Hacking Exposed, the No. 1 one text on hacker methodology, and is currently working on a new book, Hacking Exposed: Malware and Rootkits, due out in early 2009. He is a senior member of the HoneyNet project, where he is working to develop data and network control mechanisms for Windows-based honeynets.
Michael is an active developer in the open source community and has ported many popular network security applications to the Windows platform, including snort, honeyd, dsniff, and ngrep. He has spoken at several conferences around the world, including Defcon, CanSecWest, Toorcon, and MISTI, as well as to local groups.
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About the Sponsor
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