Why CIOs are saying yes to open source software

It's a question many CIOs are wrestling with: can open source help make your IT budget stretch a little further in these tough economic times?

While some CIOs are enthusiastic about the potential savings that can be made, others still warn of the hidden costs that can lie in wait for the unwary.

silicon.com's latest CIO Jury came down strongly against the uptake of open source software as a way of saving money in the middle of the recession, with only two out of the 12-strong jury of CIOs saying they were using open source to cut costs.

While open source is often touted as a cost-saving option for CIOs (especially ones with CFOs unwilling to sign off on expensive proprietary software licences), several CIOs on the jury warned that the costs of migrating to open source - and the associated expenditure on retraining staff - serve as a disincentive to adoption.

But other members of the CIO Jury pool have said using open source has become a standard part of their software portfolio.

Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director at Hachette Filipacchi, said all of the publishing house's web development is based on open source technology: "I can't imagine why anyone would use anything different! There's no point in spending a fortune on proprietary systems or programming frameworks that don't move with the times. And yes, you can scale it big - Facebook does."

Alastair Behenna, CIO at Harvey Nash, was also positive about the contribution that open source can make: "There are some genuinely terrific products available that have extended our capabilities whilst easing the pain of having to follow certain vendor's prescriptive upgrade paths by offering better alternatives."

"We'd be very foolish to ignore the cost benefits of open source in the current climate," he added.

Steve Clarke, systems and operations director at The TalkTalk Group, was similarly positive about the savings open source can bring: "Whilst we already have an extensive use of open source software within the business, we have implemented more and contemplating further changes to drive down opex costs, particularly in software maintenance and support," he said.

However, while open source software has its place regardless of economic conditions...

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