The Total Growth of Open Source
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| The significance of open source has been continuously increasing over time.
| Our research validates this claim by looking at the total growth of open
| source. Our work shows that the additions to open source projects, the total
| project size (measured in source lines of code), the number of new open
| source projects, and the total number of open source projects are growing at
| an exponential rate.
|
| Our results open gates for further research around the growth of open source
| and the acceptance of open source in industry and government. Future research
| should explore questions like what factors are influencing this exponential
| growth, how source code growth relates to the number of engaged software
| developers, and whether or how long open source can sustain this exponential
| growth.
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http://www.riehle.org/publications/2008/the-total-growth-of-open-source/
>From Microsoft's latest available 10Q SEC filing (Q1) from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/SEC/default.mspx
“A prominent example of open source software is the Linux operating system.
Although we believe our products provide customers with significant advantages
in security, productivity, and total cost of ownership, the popularization of
the open source software model continues to pose a significant challenge to
our business model, including continuing efforts by proponents of open source
software to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open source
software in their purchase and deployment of software products. To the extent
open source software gains increasing market acceptance, sales of our products
may decline, we may have to reduce the prices we charge for our products, and
revenue and operating margins may consequently decline. ”
1A section on Risk assessment: First in the list is “alternatives to our
business model” with -- you've guessed it -- GNU/Linux. (in page 31)
This will be a handy reference in the future, alongside the one below.
Recent:
Feeling the heat at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| A couple of years ago you reiterated that IBM was Microsoft's biggest
| competitor and you said not just on the business side, but overall. If I ask
| you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?
|
| Ballmer: Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have
| to go with that.
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http://www.news.com/Feeling-the-heat-at-Microsoft/2008-1012_3-6232458.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc
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