Open Source Software: Favorite Application Packages

by Tom Welsh

This Executive Update is the third in a series investigating the adoption and usage of open source software (OSS). In Part I (Vol. 8, No. 17), I discussed the benefits, drawbacks, and ROI of using OSS, while Part II (Vol. 8, No. 19) addressed the relative popularity of OSS applications and the platforms on which they are deployed. Here, I shall look into the interesting question of which specific OSS applications are most widely deployed, within five important categories: server packages, programming languages, software development tools, client tools, and database management systems (DBMSs).