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Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software

By | January 10, 2012, 9:44am PST

Summary: OpenLogic has released its annual report on what’s hot and what’s not in business open-source programs.

The cloud is growing in popularity and so are open-source programs that support cloud-computing.

The cloud is growing in popularity and so are open-source programs that support cloud-computing.

We all know that Linux, Apache and Samba are vital for business data center servers, Web servers and file and print servers respectively in businesses both large and small. What you may not know though what’s trending below the top-tier of open-source software. That’s where OpenLogic, an enterprise open-source software provider and consultants comes in. In their recent study 2011 Open Source Adoption Trending Report, OpenLogic looks at the winners and losers in open-source software adoption.

According to the company’s analysis, the fastest growing open-source projects from 2010 to 2011 in terms of business adoption were:

1. Hbase, Apache’s distributed,column-oriented database system built on top of Hadoop for Big Data.

2. Node.js, a platform, which is based on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine for writing highly scalable JavaScript Internet applications.

3. NGINX, a high concurrency, low memory usage Web Server and reverse proxy that recently surpassed Microsoft’s Internet Information Server to become the second most popular Web server in the world .

4. Hadoop, an Apache framework for distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers and on clouds, which has just achieved 1.0 status.

5. Rails, the popular, highly-scalable Web application framework.

OpenLogic also evaluated each category and categorized projects as trending up, trending level, or “trending down in three business application categories.

Application Server/Web Server:

  • Trending Up: Node.js and NGINX
  • Trending Level: Tomcat and Apache HTTP Server
  • Trending Down: JBoss and GlassFish

Frameworks:

  • Trending Up: Rails
  • Trending Level: Spring, Grails, Struts
  • Trending down: (none)

Databases and Big Data:

  • Trending Up: HBase, Hadoop, MongoDB
  • Trending Level: MySQL, PostgreSQL
  • Trending Down: CouchDB

The data for this analysis came from public data from Google, aggregated data from OpenLogic’s OpenLogic Exchange (OLEX) a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for governance and provisioning of open source software and its customer base of over 250 worldwide enterprises.

In a statement, Kim Weins, OpenLogic’s senior VP of marketing, said, “OpenLogic has a 360 degree view of how open source is being deployed in the enterprise and in the cloud. The projects that allow organizations to efficiently scale their operations and manage Big Data are by far outpacing the growth of other open source projects. We expect to see many of these up and coming projects continue to challenge the traditional open source leaders over the coming year.”

OpenLogic’s results fits into what I’ve been seeing. The cloud is becoming increasingly important to businesses and open-source projects, such as Hbase and Hadoop that support cloud-based computing, are, in turn, growing in popularity.

Cloud/San Diego seascape image by pranav, CC 2.0.

Related Stories:

NGINX takes 2nd place in Web Servers from Microsoft IIS

Oracle rolls out big data play with aggressive price, Cloudera

Apache’s Hadoop cloud computing framework achieves 1.0 status

Microsoft, Joyent deliver ‘first stable build’ of Node.js on Windows

Big data: we have the technology, but do we have the people?

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Topics

Software, Web Server, Apache Hadoop, Open-source Software, Apache Software Foundation, Server, Open Source, Drupal, Web Servers, Internet, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system

Disclosure

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a freelance writer. He does not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system; 300bps was a fast Internet connection; WordStar was the state of the art word processor; and we liked it!

His work has been published in everything from highly technical publications (IEEE Computer, ACM NetWorker, Byte) to business publications (eWEEK, InformationWeek, ZDNet) to popular technology (Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, PC World) to the mainstream press (Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BusinessWeek).

Talkback Most Recent of 13 Talkback(s)

  • A Steven Post up for a couple hours and no responses
    I guess no one cares.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cynical99
    10th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    @Cynical99
    You know, I have been trying to avoid SJVN's post now. His posts are either linkbaits, recycling of old news or other's opinion, or his own irrevelent opinion.

    He really should think what he contributed to ZDnet lately. I practically learnt nothing useful from his posts for months.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Samic
    10th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    @Cynical99
    Or maybe this should be on Tech Republic where the target is the enterprise IT crowd hangs. Like Roy, Moss, and Jen.

    Paul
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pfyearwood
    11th Jan
  • Or perhaps
    @pfyearwood
    ZD net is asking Steven to attempt some real articles instead of the normal incendiary tripe he???s known for. CW finally severed their relationship due to those issues and perhaps ZD is doing a better job of keeping the fires under control.

    Good on ya, ZD! Though, it does take some of the fun out of railing on Steven for his obvious bigotry against and hatred of MS.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cynical99
    11th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    @pfyearwood Ha Jen wouldn't understand this one and would need to consult the elders of the Internet... I think you maybe right.. and there just isn't anything that LD can sink his teeth into and start another useless flame war (although entertaining diversion from work happy )
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Aussie_linux_user
    11th Jan
  • Microsoft may not like Linux, but they LOVE Hadoop
    Microsoft is in the process of rolling out the red carpet for Hadoop-based services on their Azure platform. So long as it's deployed on Windows. Otherwise you'll have roll your own Linux image with Hadoop. More on Microsoft and Hadoop here:

    http://businessintelligenceweekly.com/2012/01/the-new-microsoft-hadoop-hosting-deal/
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Rabid Howler Monkey
    11th Jan
  • So, what you are saying is
    @Rabid Howler Monkey
    If you run Windows, rolling out Hadoop is simple, as the article says, a matter of hours, but if you run Linux, rolling out Hadoop is complex, and takes days to weeks?

    Interesting, MS makes Open Source implementation on WIndows easier than running on Linux.

    Steven, can it really be??
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cynical99
    11th Jan
  • RE: So, what you are saying is
    @Cynical99 wrote:
    "If you run Windows, rolling out Hadoop is simple, as the article says, a matter of hours, but if you run Linux, rolling out Hadoop is complex, and takes days to weeks?

    I think that this pretty much sums it up for Microsoft's Azure platform. However, Linux, with or without Hadoop, will be much easier on Amazon's EC2 platform.

    Microsoft really needs to work with their partner Attachmate to offer SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) images on their Azure platform. Otherwise, they will lose business to Amazon and other Cloud providers.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Rabid Howler Monkey
    11th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    Uhh, just a lot of words with little to back it up and unbiased news completely missing.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tom@...
    11th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    SVN does make direct statements that criticize Microsoft on many occasions, but that does not mean, nor have these comments been show to be untrue.

    Unfortunately many of the readers for ZDNet, ComputerWorld and other more popular tech publications are indeed Microsoft dupes, and just cannot stomach any comment or discussion on technology that shed unfavourable light - no mattert how accurate - on Microsoft and it's unsavory practices.

    I have no interest in the shenanigans of Microsoft, but I do appreciate that their
    unethical or if illegal actions are exposed for the general public to clearly see.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wanderson
    12th Jan
  • I actually liked this article
    @wanderson This article had great information. I would like SJVN to write more articles like this. He fails when he makes his own projections and comparisons:

    Linux will dominate the netbook .... shown to be untrue
    Google+ will overtake Facebook .... shown to be untrue
    x is the year of the desktop ..... shown to be untrue x times
    Chromebooks will destroy Windows .... shown to be untrue

    I have no interest in the shenanigans of SJVN, But if you are going to make bold statements about his accuracy, I am happy to expose it for the general public to clearly see.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    facebook@...
    12th Jan
  • Actually,
    @wanderson
    If you lined up Steven and MS and compared lies, it'd be hard to tell them apart. Steven is known for exageration and yes, well, out and out lies
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cynical99
    12th Jan
  • RE: Winners and Losers in Business Open-Source Software
    @Cynical99 If he "lied", he'd be fired. Please don't use the word "lies" for "things you don't want to hear" or "things you don't agree with" or "things that are a matter of opinion".
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jgm@...
    13th Jan

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