May 27, 2012, 7:01 AM — It's no secret that open source software is playing an increasingly prominent role in businesses around the globe, but a recent survey has uncovered a few surprising findings about adopters' motivations for choosing it.
Specifically, freedom from vendor lock-in is now users' top reason for choosing open source software, according to the 451 Group.
"While we had seen vendor lock-in fade as a factor and cost as paramount two or three years ago, today vendor lock-in has become much more of a factor for customers," explains 451 Group analyst Jay Lyman in a Tuesday blog post announcing the results.
"We believe this has to do with cloud computing and customers' desire to maintain flexibility as they figure out how to best leverage cloud resources," Lyman added.
Leading the Pack
451 Group participated on the "Future of Open Source Survey 2012" with North Bridge Venture Partners and Black Duck Software, garnering 740 responses from a variety of vendors and non-vendors in the industry.
Among the key results of that study was the finding that more than 50% of software acquired in the next five years will be open source software. Last year, in fact, was already a record year for open source investment, which increased by 49% to $675 million, the study found.
Survey respondents also said that open source is leading rather than following the pack when it comes to the cloud, big data, mobile apps, and enterprise mobility, in particular.
'Always a Strong Factor'
Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is that, when asked what are the top factors that make open source software attractive, a full 60% of respondents identified freedom from vendor lock-in as the top motivating factor.
Lower acquisition and maintenance costs (51%), better quality (43%), and access to source code (42%) were also among the top motivators mentioned.
