Open source adoption is increasing around the world, with non-proprietary code proving to be efficient and cost-effective for a wide range of enterprises. According to a recent Red Hat report, around 82 percent of IT decision-makers are more likely to choose a provider that actively gives back to the open source community. Increased public cloud usage, the growing demand for quick digital transformation, and a better awareness of open source’s cybersecurity resilience are all driving this open source push in the UK. To assist sustain this open source upswing, organisations that use the technology should contribute back to the community in order to best allow the technology’s progress.
Aiven’s research shows that open source technology has become more popular in the UK in recent years. Open source software is used extensively by 54 percent of firms, and 26 percent use it as a core component of their IT environment. However, there are differences between sectors, with 37 percent of financial services using open source substantially compared to only one out of every eight businesses in the public sector. The advantages that open source software may provide to an organisation that proprietary software cannot, such as ease of deployment, have aided in its adoption.
However, other variables, such as the rising use of public cloud services, are also at play. According to Statista, the value of UK public cloud services was $12.3 billion in the year of the first lockdowns, and is expected to rise to $23.8 billion by 2025. Technologies that can efficiently interface with the public cloud, such as open source, will continue to profit from this success.
Furthermore, decision-makers have never been more demanding of company agility. Businesses are increasingly embarking on quick and effective digital transformation journeys to address changing customer trends and hybrid working expectations. Open source’s ready-made code and infrastructure are some of the most cost-effective solutions for enterprises to achieve precisely that.
Increased adoption has also been aided by increased confidence in open source’s cybersecurity resilience. Due to the increased number of vulnerabilities available to exploitation, more endpoints due to more contributors were formerly seen as increasing the risk. Initiatives like the Open Source Security Foundation have mitigated these historical worries. To fight doubts about open source’s security capabilities, tech leaders such as GitHub and IBM have set industry-wide security guidelines.
The developer attractiveness of open source goes hand in hand with its capacity to tackle corporate concerns. According to Aiven’s research, 90% of developers believe open source will be a part of their organisations’ future. Code openness was cited by 69 percent of developers as a benefit, with 52.5 percent citing decreased vendor lock-in and the ability to design their own features as important parts of the open source offering.
Why open source support is a important
Many firms are finding open source to be an appealing free resource, with various contributors enabling for continual development. It is available to anyone who needs it for no cost. Using open source, however, comes with an obligation to give back and support its contributors. To realise its full potential in the UK, all sections of the open source community must collaborate to build and strengthen repositories.
In recent months, there have been numerous reports of open source developers being overburdened by firms who use open source tools but receive no support in return. The Log4J Volunteer dependence, which has resulted on significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities, demonstrates how this method has far-reaching consequences. Additionally, the approach is eliciting a reaction from individual creators. Apache PLC4X’s author threatened to shut down the programme unless users contributed money.
Here is how you can contribute to open source
There are indicators that the industry as a whole is recognising the need of giving back to the open source community. According to Open UK study, 53 percent of non-tech enterprises contribute to open source projects, compared to 65 percent of all businesses. More needs to be done to counteract developer tiredness and prevent open source program from becoming extinct in the UK for open source adoption to continue on its upward track.
Finance is just one of many ways that businesses may support open source. As a result of the Log4J vulnerability, Google suggested that firms that use open source applications offer their own engineers’ time to work on open source maintenance, reducing the demands and workloads on open source workers.
Another effective way for encouraging open source growth is open source program offices (OSPOs). The dedication of developer teams whose sole purpose is to contribute to open source for no other reason than to contribute to open source, as well as providing proper support to these teams, helps open source projects maintain and flourish. The United Kingdom is becoming increasingly reliant on open source to help developers and power corporate digital transformation program. For it to continue, open source must be given the support it deserves.
