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Large FLOSS Study Gets the Real Facts

Posted by kdawson on from the putting-it-all-together dept.

Hans Kwint writes "The European Commission's enterprise and industry department has just released the final draft of what could be the biggest academic interdisciplinary study on the economic / innovative impacts of free/libre/open source software (1.8-MB PDF). The study was done by an international consortium led by the United Nations University / University of Maastricht. The lead researcher, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, has overseen a large volume of FLOSS studies in the last few years, including ones on FLOSS policies and worldwide FLOSS adoption. This academic-grade study has a very broad scope and has collected real-world information that is valuable for both companies and government bodies thinking about migration. The study is about the economic impact of FLOSS, not excluding the hidden indirect impact. It compares scenarios of open and proprietary software futures of Europe. The study looks at the FLOSS's competitiveness compared to proprietary software and also provides a few TCO comparison case-studies.

6 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Well? by RealGrouchy · · Score: 5, Funny
    This study compares... This study looks at... It's the biggest FLOSS study since sliced breadboards

    Yeah, sure. It's a study. That's nice. What does it say?

    I'm not going to read a 1.8 mb PDF TFA unless I know whether or not its conclusions agree with my predisposed bias!

    - RG>
    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
    1. Re:Well? by nxtr · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not going to read a 1.8 mb PDF TFA unless I know whether or not its conclusions agree with my predisposed bias!

      You must be old here!
    2. Re:Well? by Daemonic · · Score: 5, Funny
      these costs are temporary and manly
      It's official - OSS is manly.
  2. Re:FLOSS by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    For those that don't know, FLOSS stands for 'Free Linux Open Source Software'.

    Nonsense! The 'L' stands for "lossless" - FLOSS is much better than the lossy Closed Source Software out there ;-)

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  3. Load of FUD by bh_doc · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is stupid! It's the biggest load of crap I've ever seen! I wonder who paid them to write this?

    What? Generally favourable?

    Well, it's about time someone did a proper study! I'm glad to see there are some people who aren't complete corporate shills!

  4. Re:FLOSS? by elf-fire · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well. You know. Libre as in beer.