Companies turn to open source because they believe it costs less and is more reliable than traditional software, but they worry about a lack of support, according to a recent CIO online survey of 375 IT professionals. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of the respondents said their companies use open-source software. Here’s what they had to say about its strengths and weaknesses. (To see why their fears are misplaced, read “Your Open-Source Plan,” Page 52.)
Top three strengths of open source:
| Lower capital investment | 63 percent |
| Lower total cost of ownership | 59 percent |
| Greater reliability and uptime | 41 percent |
| Top three weaknesses of open source: | |
| Lack of vendor support | 52 percent |
| Lack of labor skills to support open source | 50 percent |
| Viability of open-source vendors | 45 percent |
