Actuate's Open Source Survey Reveals European OSS Fans

Actuate, a maker of business intelligence, performance management and Java reporting software--and also an active member of the Eclipse Foundation--has just released the preliminary results of its annual open source survey. The survey included about 1,000 business and IT people, and was independently conducted by Survey Interactive. Among the findings, European firms appeared more receptive to open source than other companies around the world, especially in France and Germany.

French respondents to the survey were asked about the extent to which open source software is considered when procuring software, and close to two-thirds (61.6%) stated that it is either the preferred option, or explicitly considered as an option. German respondents slightly exceeded that, with 63.6% of respondents saying the same thing. The survey found that just over half (51%) of German respondents are actively using open source software, with 43% for the UK, 42% for France and 40% for North America.

"Persisting barriers to adoption include a lack of in-house skills to implement open source software (cited by 58.2%) – overtaking perceived issues with the availability of long-term support," the survey reported. The "findings support Gartner’s projections that, by 2012, at least 80% of all commercial software solutions will include substantive open source components," said the survey's authors.

That trend--wrapping open source components into commercial software--is starting to take on real legs. As ZDNet reports, even Microsoft is increasingly hopping on the train. The company has announced that it is adding JQuery to its Visual Studio product. "When Microsoft needs open source software, and open source developers, to retain market share that’s a very big deal," says Dana Blankenhorn.

I agree. The worlds of open source and proprietary software are headed for mergers, not just constant conflict.