Open source software appears to have a higher stage of adoption than previously thought, particularly in the database and operating system space. The fact that one-third of respondents to a recent IDC survey reported "significant live use" of open source databases suggests that open source offerings are impacting this specific software market in major way, taking market share from proprietary commercial products.
"The high adoption rate of open source software among European companies is one of several surprising outcomes of this survey," said IDC analyst, Bo Lykkegaard. "Another interesting result was how important European companies perceive software to be for their ability to compete. More than half of the respondents said that software technology is 'very important' to their business success. This goes against claims made by certain industry observers that IT is no longer a source of competitive advantage," Lykkegaard continued.