Open source is now fully embraced by both the public and private sectors, and is being implemented across a wide variety of markets and apps such as social publishing and big data, according to a new survey by North Bridge Venture Partners.
The survey revealed that user confidence in open source continues to grow, represented by the fact that users are much less concerned with historical impediments to adoption such as licensing or conforming to an organisation’s internal policies.
In addition, emerging technology segments such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), private cloud, public cloud, and mobile are driving growth in open source.
The respondents have identified SaaS, cloud and mobile as the main areas that will have a dramatic impact on open source and that are driving growth.
In 2010 there were 3,800 new open source based projects in mobile, with 94% targeting Android and Apple iOS, more than double the number in 2009.
The survey stated that there are now more than 470 open source projects targeting cloud computing while 56% of respondents believe that more than half of software purchases made in the next five years will be open source.
95% of respondents noted that a turbulent economy continues to be good for OSS, though for the first year ever, lower cost has been overtaken by freedom from vendor lock-in as what makes OSS more attractive.
North Bridge Venture Partners general partner Michael Skok said that when they started the survey five years ago, open source was still a movement that was in its nascent stages and its future was promising but still unknown.
"Since then, the survey has documented the steady rise of open source. The results of this year’s survey clearly demonstrate that open source has gone mainstream not just within the vendor community, but within customer organisations of all types and sizes," Skok said.
