News Item: GLOBAL OPEN SOURCE CENSUS LAUNCHES TO COUNT ENTERPRISE USE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

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https://www.osscensus.org/4.16.08.php

 

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GLOBAL OPEN SOURCE CENSUS LAUNCHES TO COUNT ENTERPRISE USE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

 

 

OpenLogic, IDC, Open Source Organizations and Others Sponsor Industry- Wide, Collaborative Initiative

 

 

BROOMFIELD, Colo. April 16, 2008— The Open Source Census, a new

global, collaborative project to collect and share quantitative data

on the use of open source software, today announced its founding

sponsors and launched the Census. With this announcement, companies

and individuals are now able to anonymously submit data on their use

of open source though The Open Source Census web site:

www.osscensus.org. Participants in The Open Source Census will also

gain access to reports that benchmark their open source usage.

 

The Open Source Census is a project established by OpenLogic and a

wide range of sponsors – including IDC; CollabNet; Holme, Roberts &

Owen LLP; Navica; Olliance Group; Open Solutions Alliance; Open Source

Business Foundation; O’Reilly Media; and Unisys - to provide improved

data on how open source software is used in the enterprise. The Open

Source Census also has enlisted advisors from the open source

development community, including Jim Jagielski, Chairman of the Apache

Foundation and Tony Wasserman, Director, Software Management Program

at Carnegie Melon West.

 

Goals of The Open Source Census

The overarching goal of The Open Source Census is to paint an accurate

portrait of open source usage in the enterprise. Until now, many

enterprises did not know what open source software is installed on

servers and desktops -- making traditional market research

methodologies insufficient to identify what open source projects are

gaining traction in the enterprise.

 

Enterprises Can Benchmark Open Source Usage

Yet the demand for this information is great, as enterprises struggle

to sift through thousands of open source projects to determine what

might work for them. Using OSS Discovery, an open source tool,

enterprises or individuals can now scan any of their computers and

contribute the scan results back into The Open Source Census database

-- anonymously and free of charge. Once they have contributed scans,

participants will have access to reports that summarize their own open

source usage and provide comparisons to other similar companies. These

reports will enable companies to benchmark their own open source usage

and identify opportunities to leverage the benefits of more open

source software.

 

Aggregate Census Data Available on the Web

Aggregate, anonymous data collected through The Open Source Census

will be provided for free on a web site. This aggregate data will list

the number of times each project has been installed on computers

across all participating enterprises and individuals, enabling open

source communities and developers to track usage of their projects.

 

“IDC is pleased to be the industry analyst sponsor of the Open Source

Census,” said Matt Lawton, Program Director, Open Source Software

Business Strategies at IDC. “Open source software continues to grow in

deployment, but until now the industry has relied on downloads or best

guesses from enterprises as a rough measure of adoption. The Open

Source Census will provide the industry with much more granular

information about where downloads are being installed, enabling both

customers and IT solution providers to better understand the true

impact that open source software is having. IDC will be helping to

ensure such data is interpreted consistently, as well as combining

this information with other IDC research to present a more complete

picture of open source adoption.”

 

“We are thrilled to see so many other open source organizations and

vendors both big and small, research and academic groups, and

community leaders and members get behind The Open Source Census,” said

Kim Weins, Senior Vice President of Marketing at OpenLogic. “To make

The Open Source Census successful, requires this type of ongoing

industry-wide cooperation. We are all excited to see The Open Source

Census start counting enterprise open source installations, so we can

then share these results and further enable adoption of open source in

the enterprise.”

 

Open Source Census Sponsors

Sponsors include OpenLogic; IDC; CollabNet; Holme, Roberts & Owen

LLPNavica; Olliance Group; Open Solutions Alliance; Open Source

Business Foundation and O’Reilly Media. Serving as advisors to the

Open Source Census are Jim Jagielski, Chairman of the Apache

Foundation and Tony Wasserman, Director, Software Management Program

at Carnegie Melon West.

 

CollabNet

"The acceptance and adoption of open source software has accelerated

in the past 18 months, both in large enterprises and SMBs," said

Martin Doettling, vice president of corporate marketing at CollabNet.

"The Open Source Census project will not only generate valuable data

about the actual usage of open source, it will also provide insight

into the growing adoption of open-source development practices in the

enterprise. The CollabNet platform, which hosts the OSS Discovery

project and associated community, was designed to bring the benefits

of open source development to the enterprise, enabling development

organizations to drive innovation through open collaboration."

 

 

Holme, Roberts & Owen LLP

“Sound open source governance means making each use of open source

software a knowing and compliant use. This process starts with

understanding what open source software is installed and in use in

your organization,” said Jason Haislmaier, a partner with the law firm

of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP and the head of the firm’s Technology and

Intellectual Property Transactions practice. “The Open Source Census

will help businesses take the first step by uncovering what’s actually

installed on their machines.”

 

Jim Jagielski, advisor to the Census

“As open source adoption continues to grow, so does the community that

is so integral to its success,” said Jim Jagielski, Chairman of the

Apache Software Foundation. “The Open Source Census will provide new,

invaluable feedback that developers and community members can use to

improve their projects.”

 

Navica

“The enterprises Navica works with all want to know what peer

companies are doing with open source. In the past, there was only

anecdotal evidence. With the Open Source Census, there is finally an

objective resource to help companies understand how they can take more

advantage of open source,” said Navica’s CEO Bernard Golden.

 

Olliance Group

"Today's launch of the Open Source Census is a big step forward in

understanding how much open source software is being used in

enterprises and in government today,," said Andrew Aitken, CEO of the

Olliance Group. "We encourage enterprises to participate as there are

many benefits in seeing how other similarly sized enterprises are

deploying open source software."

 

 

Open Solutions Alliance

“As the home to some of today’s most successful commercial open source

companies, the OSA is confident about the inroads that open source is

making in the enterprise,” said Dominic Sartorio, president of the

Open Solutions Alliance. “Since we’re in the mainstream phase of open

source adoption, The Open Source Census will give us a better idea of

what type of open source software is being used now.”

 

Open Source Business Foundation

"The spread of open source is pretty universal-we're a European

network of companies, institutions and individuals concerned with the

commercial use of open source software" said Frank P. Sempert of the

Open Source Business Foundation. "So much of open source software

code has originated in Europe - it will be great to see how much open

source adoption has taken place."

 

Unisys

“We help our enterprise clients use open source technology to achieve

their business goals,” said Anthony Gold, Vice President and General

Manager of Open Source Business for Unisys Corporation. “Corporate

users of open source will see value in data from The Open Source

Census including being able to see what projects are being used by

other corporations in their respective industry and geography. We

hope this will lead to even greater adoption of open source technology

since the data will illustrate the many applications of open source

and in turn, its tangible benefits.”

 

How The Open Source Census Works

Using an open source tool created by OpenLogic called OSS Discovery,

IT teams can automatically scan a sampling of machines to identify

which open source packages and versions are installed. These scans

gather completely anonymous data on which open source packages and

versions are installed. Scan results can then be automatically

submitted to a repository on The Open Source Census web site.

Participants can review the actual results of the scans before they

decide whether to submit the data. The Open Source Census member

organizations can distribute OSS Discovery under a dual license –

either the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 or a commercial

license.

 

Each enterprise that contributes scans to The Open Source Census

receives online access to a summary of their own open source usage, as

well as comparisons to industry benchmarks, which can help enterprises

uncover new opportunities to leverage the functionality, quality and

cost savings associated with open source software.

 

To contribute data to The Open Source Census, go to www.osscensus.org.

 

About The Open Source Census:

The Open Source Census is a global, collaborative project to collect

and share quantitative data on the use of open source software in

enterprise. Founded by OpenLogic, the Open Source Census has a number

of sponsors including OpenLogic, IDC, The Open Source Census

initiative has open source tools designed to scan individual

enterprise computers for all installed open source software. The

results of these scans can then be contributed anonymously to the Open

Source Census, where the aggregate data is published.

 

About OpenLogic:

 

OpenLogic is a leading provider of open source solutions that enable

enterprises to safely acquire, support, and control open source

software. OpenLogic provides enterprises with a certified library of

open source software that encompasses hundreds of the most popular

open source packages via OpenLogic Exchange (OLEX), a free web site

where companies can find, research, and download certified, enterprise-

ready open source packages on demand. With the broadest open source

coverage in the industry, OpenLogic offers indemnification; updates;

and enterprise-grade technical support backed by the OpenLogic Expert

Community. OpenLogic also provides solutions for open source

governance and to automate the integration and deployment of open

source components -- reducing the risk and maximizing the cost savings

associated with using open source software. For more on OpenLogic, go

to www.openlogic.com.

 

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Bret Clement

Page One PR

303.462.3057

bret ( -at -) pageonepr.com

 

 

 

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