Open Source software a $5.8 billion opportunity by 2011, IDC says

Framingham (MA) - Developers of standalone open source software (OSS) will be able to cash in on their works over the next few years. According to a report released by IDC, the segment has entered a "significant growth stage," accelerating annual revenues between now and 2011 to almost $6 billion.

"We are in the early stages of the development and deployment of OSS," said Matt Lawton, program director at IDC. While he considers the market to be "quite immature" at this time, he said that there is "healthy growth in revenue from standalone open source software."

According to IDC, increased financial backing from venture capitalists more comfort with subscription revenue as a business model and increased interest in OSS within larger enterprise organizations are helping to accelerate the OSS adoption rate these days. Also, the market research firm found that more customers believe that OSS provides them with "more choice and leverage with proprietary software vendors."

IDC estimates that global annual OSS revenues will climb from $1.8 billion in 2006 to $5.8 billion in 2011, growing at an average annual growth rate of 26%.

However, the firm noted that OSS revenue will substantially lag behind the distribution of open source software. "Many distributions of standalone open source software are free, while paid distributions typically are based on pay-as-you-go subscriptions rather than pay-up-front license fees," Lawton said.