South Australian Open Source Industry is set to grow in 2007/08
The survey results serve to dispel a number of commonly held misconceptions about the open source industry including that there is a lack of support for open source software (OSS) in South Australia. 83% of respondents reported providing services across a range of possible offerings and not just one aspect, for example engaged in software development and deployment as well as documentation and training or selling and consulting. "With at least sixteen independent South Australian orgnaisations reportedly offering support services for open source software this demonstrates that there is real choice available to South Australian organisations seeking to obtain support for open source software on a commercial basis." said OSIA director Jack Burton.
71% of the South Australian open source industry respondents reported that their legal structure was that of a company or other incorporated body, dispelling the notion that open source is the domain of mostly amateurs and hobbyists. 53% of the respondents were actively targeting the education sector, a number much larger than conventional wisdom suggested it would be.
Perhaps the most surprising finding of this survey was that 36% of respondents reported the vast majority of their revenue came from sources outside of South Australia. Further, 76% of industry respondents reported selling to clients outside of the state and working with clients outside of South Australia whilst 29% reported selling their OSS products and/or services overseas.
Brenda Aynsley, one of the survey organisers said she was pleased with the participation rate of the survey at this early stage and expected to repeat the exercise with a significantly larger number of participants this financial year. "One of the most useful outcomes of this survey for companies considering open source for their business is the Direcotry of SA Open Source Professional Practitioners which would be published this quarter."
The survey is available online at http://www.osia.net.au/content/download/667/3150/version/1/file/osia_sa_survey_2007_apr.pdf
Further information: Jack Burton 0438 287 866, Brenda Aynsley 0412 662 988
About OSIA: OSIA is the national industry body for Open Source within Austalia. We exist to further the cause of both Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Australia and to help our members to improve their business success in this growing sector of the global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) market. For more information about OSIA please visit http://www.osia.net.au