Five Key Points to Remember When Looking at Market Research on the Open Source Software Movement
On August 20, 2008 ebizQ is holding an Open Source Software
(OSS) Roundtable called “An Open
Source Market Update.”
This session presents—in a question/answer
format—an overview of ebizQ and other OSS market research
findings pointing at important OSS best practices of implementation and
usage. Typically there is no better way to understand how to
implement information technology (IT) than to see how your peers use
it.
(If you are reading this article prior to August 20, 2008,
register here
or visit the link on the ebizQ OSS page under Webinars or on almost
every ebizQ page under the title “Where the Action Never
Ends.” If you are reading this after August 20,
2008, a replay is available via the “… Action
Never Ends” link.)
Some market research that has appeared in 2008 and that is
discussed on the August 20 panel includes a market sizing from IDC, a
report on OSS quality from Fortify Software, a report on open source
acceptance in enterprises by OpenLogic, as well as
- the Linux ecosystem report released by the Linux Foundation
- the Commercial Open Source Survey results from the Open
Solutions Alliance
This article points out some of the things to watch for when
reading these or any other market research results.
Timing is everything
One example used in the roundtable session is a June 2008
report from Matt Lawton of IDC that I think confirms trends I found in
IT Investment Research year-end 2007 OSS survey, which ebizQ
commissioned back in January 2008. My survey in turn confirmed research
Matt did in June 2007. First
point: “When was the research
done?” The OSS market changes rapidly although the
overall software market is like an aircraft carrier and turns slowly.
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