The Open Learning Centre

There are many reports available on the Internet and elsewhere that show that the use and take-up of FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) is growing rapidly.

The EU recently funded and commissioned a report into FLOSS and it's economic impact. The findings of this report are startling:

• The leading quality Open Source Software products would have cost €12bn to reproduce by proprietary software vendors,
• The quality FLOSS code-base is doubling every 18-24 months and accelerating,
• The notional value of Europe’s investment in FLOSS software today is €22 billion (36 billion in the US) representing 20.5% of total software investment (20% in the US)
• Defined broadly, FLOSS-related services could reach a 32% share of all IT services by 2010, and the FLOSS-related share of the economy could reach 4% of European GDP by 2010.
• FLOSS potentially saves industry over 36% in software R&D investment that can result in increased profits or be more usefully spent in further innovation.

The full report is freely available here: http://flossimpact.eu/.