In the current economic problems, is open source software going to flourish or die?

[N002213F]

Is open source software going to go through tough times (not good ) or actually flourish? (good ) What would be the reason for any on the outcome?

[JosAH]

My guess is that it'll flourish but for the wrong reasons: money. Open source
software doesn't come with licence costs, upgrade costs, support costs etc.
Management is very sensitive to spending money; for an example look at the
outsourcing hype. Without knowing what open source is all about management
will be very willing to switch, as long as they can see black numbers on their
spread sheets.

kind regards,

Jos

[asedt]

For home useres and small offices i think Open source will flourish, more and more will realise the benifits.

For companys and bigger organisations its harder to make changes and if they current don't use open source, often a lot is reqired to make a change. Just to make that dessison to chang is a lot of work is needed.