6th Annual Survey on the "Future of Open Source"

North Bridge Venture Partners and Black Duck Software just announced the results of their 6^th annual "Future of Open Source Survey" at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC). More than 700 respondents – the largest number in the survey's history – took part in the 2012 survey, including representatives from both vendor and non-vendor communities. 

According to Michael Skok, General Partner, North Bridge Venture Partners, "The 2012 Future of Open Source Survey reveals the Open Source Software (OSS) market is thriving. This year's results show an important shift in respondents' view of OSS, focusing less on cost and more on how OSS can innovate and help create industries.  Taken together with applications like mobile and enabled by cloud, we are entering an exciting new era of 'Open Innovation on Demand,' where not only can OSS innovate faster, it can be deployed immediately and consumed as a service from the cloud."

Survey respondents were asked about a wide range of issues affecting the OSS landscape, including areas of growth in OSS, key drivers of and barriers to OSS adoption, and suggestions for building and maintaining profitable OSS business models.

The following are some of the key findings of the survey:

• Quality of open source is one of the top three reasons that make it attractive for use.
• More than 50% of software acquired in the next five years will be open source software.
• The top trend for open source by 2015 will be the adoption of open source software (OSS) in non-technical segments, e.g. health care, automotive, government.
• Almost half (44%) of respondents identified data management as the segment most likely to be affected by OSS in 2012.
• Nearly half (43%) of respondents named "project maturity" as the most important factor when choosing an open source project for integration into a product or service.
• When asked about revenue generating strategies likely to create value for vendors, 52% of respondents said an annual, repeatable support and service agreement was the most likely value strategy.
• Top barriers to selecting OSS versus proprietary software are unfamiliarity with OSS solutions and lack of internal technical skills among developers.

According to Tim Yeaton, President and CEO, Black Duck Software, "The Future of Open Source Survey results point to much stronger adoption in the enterprise. As we've come to expect, awareness of the competitive advantages enabled by open source technologies and methods is spreading rapidly."

The results of this 6^th annual survey on the future of open source software reinforce the point that we are now well past the 'tipping point' in acceptance and adoption by major enterprises in the public and private sectors.