Abstract
Firms increasingly rely on open source software for solving business problems and building mission-critical IT solutions. However, there are numerous issues associated with OSS, including its influence on the total cost of ownership (TCO) and supportability and upgradeability risks. While savings from obtaining a free copy of the software can be significant, software accounts for an average of 10% of TCO, while the majority of the costs are associated with project staffing. OSS requires significant investment into staffing because it needs to be carefully selected, customized, and installed. In addition, global communities may gather and dissolve at their will, so guarantees of support, revision, and bug fixes are minimal. Yet companies can gain competitive advantage through an ability to customize software to address specific business issues and exercising control over development, revision schedules, and modifications. OSS is not a panacea from the rising software costs. Instead, it is a serious initiative that has benefits, disadvantages, and risks associated with it.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Key words
References
Alfonsi, B. (2005, June). Open source in the classroom. IEEE Distributed Systems Online, 3.
Berger, M. (2002, August 12). Eating the free lunch. InfoWorld, 24(32), 1.
Bruce, G.L., Wittgreffe, J.P., Potter, J.M.M., & Robson, P. (2005, July). The potential for open source software in telecommunications operational support systems. BT Technology Journal, 23(3), 79.
Donnelan. B., Fitzgerald, B., Lake, B., & Sturdy, J. (2005, November). Implementing an open source knowledge base. IEEE Software, 22(6), 92–95.
Fitzgerald, B. & Kenny, T. (2004, January/February). Developing an information systems infrastructure with open source software. IEEE Software, 21(1), 50–55.
Hawkins, M.W. (2001, June 22). Total cost of ownership: The driver for IT infrastructure management. Prentice Hall PTR; http://www.phptr.com/articles
Hutlestad, L. (2004, May 31). Linux TCO: Fact or fiction? VAR Business, 2012, 54.
MacCormack, A. (2003, August 18). The true costs of software. Computerworld, 37(33), 44.
Prichard, S. (2006, October 4). Why open source stays out of reach small and medium-sized enterprises. Financial Times, 6.
Vallejo-Yeo, G. (2005, May 14). Linux can save money. Asia Computer Weekly, 1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Krivoruchko, J. (2007). The Use of Open Source Software in Enterprise Distributed Computing Environments. In: Feller, J., Fitzgerald, B., Scacchi, W., Sillitti, A. (eds) Open Source Development, Adoption and Innovation. OSS 2007. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 234. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72486-7_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72486-7_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-72485-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-72486-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)