[wsfii-discuss] FLOSS in Europe

Fri Oct 21 11:31:47 UTC 2005

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 Open-source software seen gaining in Europe 
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 Open-source software is gaining ground in Europe, with users attracted 
 by lower costs and accessibility, according to a recent study.  

 The study of 12 European countries conducted by the Maastricht Economic 
 Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) in the 
 Netherlands found that nearly 49 per cent of local government 
 authorities are using Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) and those 
 using it would like to increase its use. The survey netted 955 
 respondents in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, 
 Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.  

 Around 70 per cent of FLOSS users wanted to increase its use, said 
 program leader Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. But the survey also found that some 
 29 per cent of respondents who said they did not use FLOSS did in fact 
 use open source software such as GNU/Linux, MySQL, or Apache. The 
 average number of computers serviced by an IT administrator was 66, 13 
 more than administrators who were not using open-source software, Ghosh 
 said. The statistic implies that fewer administrators are needed for 
 open-source software, he said. See also: http://www.flosspols.org 

 InfoWorld / IDG - October 20, 2005 
 http://unu-merit.nl/ictweekly/ref.php?nid=2362 