Some of the criticism targeted at open source software (OSS) is not so much about OSS itself but about the way it has been adopted.
Enterprises need to become much more proactive, structured and transparent in the way they adopt OSS, and adopt a common adoption model for both OSS and closed source software (CSS).Even the most anti-OSS organisations are now likely to find it difficult to avoid OSS as it is both pushed by suppliers and pulled by users.
An increasing amount of CSS offerings have an OSS component.
For example, most Java development toolsets now rely on the open source Eclipse framework – even Microsoft’s Windows Services for Unix features OSS components!Many organisations are coming to terms with the fact that: they already use OSS: the larger they are, the more likely they are to use a wide range of OSS offerings their use of OSS is getting serious, especially in areas where OSS is mature such as web infrastructure and software development tools.
Even if they are unwilling to go down the OSS route, partners and customers, especially in the public sector, may force their hand.
The public sector is usually a laggard in terms of software adoption, but OSS is the glaring exception to that rule.
Five years ago many public organisations ignored, rather than specifically excluded, OSS.
Now an increasing number are partial to it – some explicitly, others more informally.