Those who are familiar with free software will know that it has many advantages. What they may not yet know is that the pandemic, among other factors, has favored the growth of free software communities, a phenomenon that attests to the participation of giants such as Microsoft, IBM or Oracle, among others.
This corporate migration towards free software continues thanks to the commitment of many companies, both large and small, to free software in times of economic crisis. It happens that it helps many companies to reduce costs and improve their ability to innovate, which also allows limiting personnel adjustments.
A migration to free software
According to a Tidelift survey, 68% of companies have opted for free software during times of crisis to help them save time and therefore money. If large technology companies have the resources to succeed, many small businesses wonder how they can take advantage of the many benefits that free software brings.
One of the ways to manage a migration to free software technology is to use a management platform that monitors the components in use. As free software continues to expand, there are also more companies focusing on developing management platforms that offer a complete solution for keeping free software components supported by project maintainers.
Key to retaining and attracting talent
Many companies are learning that the developer community has a strong affinity and loyalty for free software, says Todd Moore, vice president of free technology at IBM. That means that the more open they are to free software in their own development, the more likely they are to hire and retain the most talented developers.
“We’ve seen large organizations embrace free software more than ever in the last decade, and we expect that to happen more and more as it becomes a crucial part of software development,” Todd Moore told LinuxInsider.
According to a recent O’Reilly Media and IBM survey of more than 3,400 developers and technology executives, free software was rated equal to or better than proprietary software by 95 percent of those surveyed. In addition, seventy percent also preferred cloud service providers based on free software.
