Something for nothing: management rejection of open source software in Australia’s top firms

Abstract

Organisations have traditionally relied on commercial software products to support their operations. However, rising software costs and recent corporate failures have brought the provision and value of commercial software into question. Recently, open source software, as a relatively new development in the IS field, has risen in popularity as a possible panacea for these ills. If firms value low acquisition cost, ostensibly plentiful support, and source code access, why have not more firms adopted open source software? The lack of published empirical research in the area means this issue has been inadequately addressed. This paper examines why firms do not adopt open source software. This study surveyed 500 of Australia’s top firms to see why managers rejected open source software. The study found that managers rejected open source software because they could not see that it had any relevance to their operations, perceived a lack of reliable ongoing technical support of it and also appeared to see substantial learning costs or had adopted other software that they believed to be incompatible with open source software.