Interview: Open source software is poised to oust proprietary solutions

Business continuity, quality and control eclipse cost savings as the top reasons IT professionals prefer open source to proprietary software. According to a new study by the Ponemon Institute and Zimbra, more than 75% of IT professionals agree that code transparency increases the trustworthiness of a software application. And two-thirds believe it improves security and reduces privacy risks.

For "The Open Source Collaboration Study: Viewpoints on Security & Privacy in the US & EMEA", the Ponemon Institute interviewed IT and IT security practitioners about their companies' usage and perceptions of open source messaging and collaboration solutions.

We caught up with Larry Ponemon, the founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute, to find out more about the study's contents.

TechRadar Pro: The average percentage of commercial open source used in EMEA is 25% and the US it's 30%. What factors are contributing to the slow adoption of open source?

Larry Ponemon: The report didn't explore the reason behind the slow adoption. But we did learn that Zimbra, whose messaging and collaboration solution is open source, was deployed in 40% of US and 30% of EMEA organisations.

Control over the software and ensuring business continuity are the most beneficial aspects of open source, according to the report. Security and privacy were also found to greatly benefit from open source's transparency.

Overall, the perceptions of open source were more positive than those of proprietary software, and more than half of the EMEA and US organisations surveyed are planning to replace their existing solutions with open source ones over the next two years.

TRP: EMEA organisations are more concerned with the privacy consequences of messaging and collaboration while US organisations focus more on security. Why are EMEA organisations more likely to enforce security and data privacy policies than their US counterparts?

LP: The regulatory regimes across EMEA and the US are very different. This is largely a function of the regulatory compliance landscape in the regions, and what the legislation and mandates of each prioritise.

EMEA legislation leads to strict data protection/privacy compliance, regardless of the industry vertical, and encompasses the entire citizenry.

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Interview: Open source software is poised to oust proprietary solutions