A latest survey showed that more and more small and medium sized companies are adopting open source. The companies are all based in Europe and they have less than 500 employees. The survey seeks to document the usage of open source among these companies and the results are very interesting.

The survey report was released by MySQL. The latest report is not as comprehensive as the reports regularly released by Alfresco. However, this survey should prompt Alfresco to take a closer look and reassess its Open Source Barometer survey. In fact, the latest report provides valuable insights and snapshots on the current open source usage patterns of small and medium enterprises.

Here are some interesting facts from the latest survey:

The Extent of Open Usage

According to the survey, 54 percent of small enterprises across the European continent are now using open source software. On a per country basis, the result provides a very interesting finding.

In France for example, 72 percent of small businesses are currently using open source software. Germany and Italy are following closely. On the other hand, the United Kingdom is at the bottom of the pack with only 34 percent of small companies adopting open source applications.

The extent of open source usage also appears independent of company size. This means that open source adoption is fairly widespread across all types of small businesses. From the smallest companies to medium sized enterprises, the adoption of open source software is occurring.

Open Source Used On Mission Critical Apps

Another revealing discovery is the fact that a big number of small and medium sized enterprises are using mission critical open source applications. This is in great contrast with the practices of bigger companies. Large enterprises are averse to risks so they tend to use open source apps on less critical computing tasks.

Netherlands tops the list of countries that have large numbers of companies adopting mission critical applications at 71 percent. Germany is at close second with 68 percent adoption. While the United Kingdom is at third place registering 65 percent adoption rates.

It should be noted that these countries are not heavy users of open source software. However, companies in these countries are increasingly using open source software for very critical enterprise tasks.

Popular Applications Used by European Companies

The survey predicted that the usage of open source software will definitely increase in the nest two years. Currently, Windows is still the top choice of companies for their operating system. But a big number of small companies are also adopting Linux OS.

For database applications, Java language is the number one choice of companies. This is closely followed by Visual Basic. Occupying the third spot are PHP and JavaScript / AJAX.

Almost 50 percent of system administrators in small companies are currently serving as database administrators also.

The survey showed that cost is the primary driver for the increasing adoption of open source software. Freedom to choose the application is the second driving factor. Lastly, ease of use came third as one of the reasons for adopting open source.

Print

Location: BlogsOSD Blog