Open Source Software Market on the Rise, IDC Finds

Open source software use is expected to grow strongly over the next four years, according to a new IDC forecast. The down economy is helping to spur its growth, particularly over the last 12 months.

A recent IDC study reveals that worldwide revenue from open source software (OSS) will grow at a 22.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $8.1 billion (US) by 2013.

The IDC forecast, "Worldwide Open Source Software 2009-2013 Forecast", is considerably higher than 2008 for three reasons: the bottom-up list used to calculate the revenue has expanded through an exhaustive effort to include more projects in this forecast; open source software has had a much higher level of acceptance over the past 12 months than previously expected, and; the economy accelerated the uptake and use of open source software in the closing months of 2008.