According to a new IDC study, the growth in adoption of stand-alone open source software reached $1.8 billion in 2006 and will grow 26% annually for the next four years, hitting a total market worth of US$5.8 billion in 2011. IDC found that the open source market is in a significant stage of growth, as previous barriers to adoption fall away. Software distribution is growing, but revenues will take longer to follow suit, researchers found. That's partly because much open source software is free, while other products use a subscription revenue model rather than getting users to pay a lump sum up front.
In the business world, companies are waking up to the fact that open source opens up more choices and gives them something to use as a bargaining chip with proprietary software vendors. Companies are also becoming more comfortable with subscription revenue as a business model, something common among open source companies, while larger enterprises are also getting on board. Financial backing from venture capitalists is helping boost growth, IDC said.
News source: PC World
In the business world, companies are waking up to the fact that open source opens up more choices and gives them something to use as a bargaining chip with proprietary software vendors. Companies are also becoming more comfortable with subscription revenue as a business model, something common among open source companies, while larger enterprises are also getting on board. Financial backing from venture capitalists is helping boost growth, IDC said.
News source: PC World
Wow! It is amazing how clueless some people can be. When did open source become an operating system?... and assuming the story was just about Linux et al., when did open source operating systems equate to being free? My company purchases licenses for both Red Hat and SUSE along with many other open source (non-OS) solutions. You need the right tool for the job. Don't get blinded by brand loyalty.
Last edited by lbmouse on 05 Jun 2007 - 12:32
Besides, Open Source Operating Systems doesn't automatically equate to being "non-profit" or "completely free", yes source code is often freely available and can be compiled freely, but a lot of Open Source Operating Systems offer licenses and support for a nominal fee. And many businesses & enterprises pay said prices, because they need that particular software solution for a particular reason, and would like to have guaranteed support to come along with their software solutions.
Even users of proprietary Microsoft of Unixes (Unices?) can benefit from Open Source, by using it as a bargain chip, like the article mentioned.
It's good for everyone.
Anyways, open source is just a concept, not a product or a specific market, nor is specifically linux.
Some people have their Linux-hating glasses on, and equate all Open Source news to Linux, then make flawed conclusions and statements.
Some people have their Linux-hating glasses on, and equate all Open Source news to Linux, then make flawed conclusions and statements.
Even so, that's not the OP's point. He is saying where is this $35 billion dollar figure? Surely it isn't inside of a $1.8 billion dollar sum. If open source includes Linux as well, then the number should be a lot higher.
Point? Good luck open source.
Point? Good luck open source.
Nothing here to get confrontational with the snide "good luck" comment.
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