Open source driving cloud, big data, mobile, survey finds

Open source continues to make big strides, and leads in key growth segments including cloud, big data, mobile applications and enterprise mobility, according to a survey published yesterday.

At the launch of the Open Source Business Conference, two key backers in the open source space, Black Duck Software and North Bridge Venture Partners, issued their sixth annual survey results including key findings and challenges for open source in 2012.

Open source is driving innovation not solely because of low cost but because of its perceived high quality, the survey of 700 respondents found. That's due to the open source development model itself, the survey's creators opine. ""The quality of open source, and the ability to continuously improve, is now one of the top reasons for its adoption," according to a statement of findings released yesterday.

The results indicate that more than 50 percent of software acquired in the next five years will be open source and that an increasing number of non-technical segments such as health care, automotive and government as well as stronger enterprise adoption will drive high growth.

Nearly 50 percent of the respondents identified data management as the segement to be most affected by open source in the coming year and roughly half also pointed to project maturity as the most significant factor considered when selecting open source.

The big challenges continue to be finding skilled open source technical talent, management of open source software and figuring out how to engage with the open source community. "The complexity associated with OSS use, from choosing the right project from the over 600,000 available to managing the acquisition, integration, maintenance and support needs off OSS," continues to be a big challenge, the survey found.