The Value of Open Source in the Cloud Era

Two significant shifts characterize computing in the past two decades: the widespread use of free and open source software (FOSS) and migration to the cloud. How have these trends influenced one another? O'Reilly, in collaboration with IBM, conducted a survey of software development professionals during the fall of 2020 to discover the complex relationship between these two trends.

More than 3,400 respondents from a variety of software disciplines, including developers and managers, indicated that FOSS is maintaining and perhaps even increasing its influence in the cloud age. The survey demonstrates that these professionals have a strong loyalty to open source software, which is motivated by real career benefits and greater professional opportunities. For instance, 95% of respondents agreed that experience with Linux was valuable to their career. And 70% of respondents prefer a cloud provider that's based on open source.

This report delves into more key survey findings, including:

• The number of respondents who use open source software in some aspect of their operations
• How open source software stacks up against proprietary software
• The career and professional benefits that open source technologies provide
• How many respondents have chosen cloud providers based on their use of open source software
• The software technologies that respondents consider most important
• And more