Open Source Software Redux

by Stephen J. Andriole

Last year, one of my graduate student teams pitched me on the virtues of open source software. We analyzed some open source alternatives to Microsoft Office, Siebel Systems' customer relationship management (CRM) and other proprietary applications, and even some database management software. We concluded that while they were all impressive, they were still not quite the real thing. Nor, we concluded, would they offer the cost savings that everyone had been lobbied to expect. I then took the analysis to the CIO Advisory Council at Villanova University (20 or so CIOs from the greater Philadelphia area) and asked them straight up: "What are you doing about open source software in your companies?" 1 The people taking that ad hoc survey spent about US $5 billion a year on technology -- surely they'd be interested in something that might save them some serious money.

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Open Source Software ReduxTue Nov 08 10:29:05 CST 2005