Open Source and the Covid19 Global Pandemic

Open-source software use has increased despite Covid19's negative effects on the economy.

Usage increases as companies shift their processes

Human Nature

Our flight or flight response to Covid19 has really shown it’s true colors. When things get bad, we as humans do our very best to find ways to survive.

When Covid19 swept across the world, many businesses were forced to switch over to open-source software for numerous reasons.

What are the benefits of using open-source software?

• Financially: since it’s free, it releases companies from proprietary software.
• Customizability: since it’s community-based, there’s plenty of room for flexibility and the ability to meet specific enterprise needs.
• Unlocking Innovation: being supported and contributed to by anyone and everyone around the world, gives it the fast pass to innovation
• Support: you have access to support at any turn and at every corner.
• Scalability: As companies grow, the need to scale increases. With open-source software, it’s easy to scale. The opposite is true when a company needs to consolidate. With open-source, they can achieve more with less.

Tidelift, surveyed over 600 companies, looking to observe any correlations between the Covid19 pandemic and open-source software. The results showed that open-source software is growing and more companies are switching over.

• Of the organizations surveyed, 44% were not using open-source software prior to the pandemic. 42% of those companies were forced to shift to open-source due to budget cuts for application development.

Saving time and money while increasing efficiency

• 68% said that saving time and money is the major reason to use more open-source, while 48% cited the increasing efficiency of application development and maintenance as the reason for embracing open source.
• Organizations with over 1000 employees responded that efficiency was a reason for encouraging the shift to open-source.
• 40% of the organizations want to eliminate vendor lock-in and therefore are moving away from costly proprietary software and shifting to open-source software. Doing so will give them more authority over projected spending. Both larger and smaller companies concurred.
• Almost half of the leaders of the largest companies are encouraging the switch to open-source software.

Open source is not a take all, give nothing community.

• It’s interesting to note that 83% of those surveyed confirmed that their organization contributes to open source. Approximately half of these companies have procedures on how employees contribute to open-source. By giving time to employees to code, write, and support the open-source community, organizations can help sustain the open-source community. It’s a two-way street.
• Working from home has its benefits, but it also comes with pitfalls. Many IT teams are struggling to determine which components to use and resolving vulnerabilities. These processes can often hold back deployment.

One of the most interesting finds from the survey is the following:

• Only 18% of organizations are positive that their open-source software is secure, current, and well maintained.

Open-source software use is rising, and there’s been a spike during Corona. Organizations are changing the way they think about and use open-source. Organizations are shifting how they manage their open source dependencies and are reevaluating the key benefits and innovation they would bring to their company if they were to increase their use.

At Linnovate, we seek to leverage the substantial value of the rapidly growing Open-source software ecosystem in order to disrupt the usage of closed proprietary solutions, throughout organizations. We are proud of our achievements and contributions to open-source in pursuit of our goal of bringing attention to the benefits of Open-source software. Linnovate has deployed dozens of successful digital transformation and web solutions to various enterprises including e-commerce, government and defense groups, public services, the news and publishing industry, internal portals and academic and higher education institutions.

To learn more about Linnovate’s Open-source contributions and solutions, click here.