OStatic

There's a good recap on CNet today of findings from IDC's latest report on open source. Among other things IDC is reportedly forecasting that open source software revenues will reach $4.83 billion by 2012, growing at a 23 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Among several interesting aspects about the report, revenue from new OSS projects is expected to grow at 32 percent CAGR over the same time period. According to CNET's report, IDC director Matt Lawton also cautioned that standalone open source deployments are only one component of accurate forecasts. I very much agree with that last note of caution.

If you pay any attention at all to the movie industry, you've no doubt noticed the tremendous success that Pixar has had with largely computer-generated animated films. They've got a pretty good track record, singer/songwriter Randy Newman quipped when he accepted a Best Song award at the Oscars for Monsters, Inc. If you take a look at Big Buck Bunny, though, a 3D animated movie created by open source contributors and just released for free online, it looks like Pixar may eventually have some competition. I say eventually because Big Buck Bunny isn't perfect, but it is surprisingly good.