Open Source Software's Expanding Role in the Enterprise: Companies Adopt Open Source as Standard

Open source has emerged as one of the more important IT trends in this young century. The application of open source methodologies has grown significantly in scope, as has its usage, over a relatively short period of time. In the study discussed in this paper, more than half the companies that are using open source are using in for mission critical applications. However, because there are differences between open source and commercial software, customers want their concerns about open source software addressed before they incorporate open source more completely in their IT portfolios. Forrester Consulting, under Unisys sponsorship, undertook an in-depth study of how open source software is being used in North America and Europe to better understand the important role it is playing in IT.