How Big US Firms Use Open Source Software 116
Diomidis Spinellis writes "We hear a lot about the adoption of open source software, but when I was asked to provide hard evidence there was little I could find. In a recent article we tried to fill this gap by examining the type of software the U.S. Fortune 1000 companies use in their web-facing operations. Our study shows that the adoption of OSS in large U.S. companies is significant and is increasing over time through a low-churn transition, advancing from applications to platforms, and influenced by network effects. The adoption is likelier in larger organizations and is associated with IT and knowledge-intensive work, operating efficiencies, and less productive employees. Yet, the results were not what I was expecting."
Re:OS browser (Firefox) running on Windows XP (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, Microsoft's and Apple's bottom lines will be decimated by the loss of revenues from lower sales of Internet Explorer and Safari!
Re:They are afraid of GPL (Score:4, Funny)
What doesn't happen a lot is that the GPL changes get incorporated into mainstream releases. Not so much because the companies hoard it (the opposite, they're petrified of lawsuits),
Actually, you got it slightly wrong. The big companies are *terrified*. It's Natalie Portman who's *petrified*.
And in true Slashdot fashion I have poured hot grits down my pants. Thank you.
Re:They are afraid of GPL (Score:5, Funny)
I thought your comment was sarcasm, but then I read the first post off of your blog and realized that it wasn't.
Re:They are afraid of GPL (Score:5, Funny)
Their original introduction of VB (with all it's short comings) made it much easier for people with limited experience to create applications. On the other hand Java based developer support was much weaker at the same time.
Yes indeed. I remember clearly that Java's support for developers was abysmal in 1991.