The headline-grabbing data is found about a third of the way through the 287-page report. In a section titled “User benefits: interoperability, productivity, and cost savings,” the study’s authors (researchers from five European universities) make the claim that OSS is a less-expensive alternative to proprietary software.Six public and private organizations that have transitioned to OSS were studied, and the authors found that while OSS migration costs were high, initial purchasing costs were higher for proprietary solutions. Maintenance costs are comparable—with the OSS solution being more expensive in some cases—but the overall annual total cost of ownership was lower for OSS in five of the six cases studied.
Read this article from Ars and contribute to the Open Source section of the Whats New Media Wiki. On topic: Expanding the open source business model from ZDNet’s Open Source expert Dana Blankenthorn
Update: Taking the plunge into open source from C|Net (1.15.07)
