Andago Survey Predicts Heavier Use of Free Software in Spanish Companies

[ Thanks to andago for this link.
]

The technological consultant Andago has carried out its first
Report on the use of technologies based on free software in
Spain.

The Andago “Report on the use of Linux and Open Source in the
Spanish corporative environment” [linked below] was based on a
sample of the most important and influential 1,500 companies in the
Spanish market, from invoicing data for the last fiscal year. This
study is the first report made in Spain.

This report shows the results of surveys made from April to
October 2002 and directed at the people in charge of IT at these
large companies, in a questionnaire seeking the following data:

• Degree of knowledge of Open Source Technologies
• Degree of penetration of these technologies in the IT
  Infrastructure
• Company strategy for introducing Linux

The main conclusion offered by the I Andago Report is that the
degree of penetration of technologies based on free software in the
corporative world has increased considerably. A few years ago, the
use of Open Source technologies was restricted to university
environments and GNU/Linux companies, but is now being widely
accepted by big companies in Spain.

According to this study, 89% of IT management in Spain know
about Open Source Technologies and are familiarized with this type
of open systems; consequently this phenomenon is evolving in the
corporative environment.

In reference to the use of free software, 25% of big Spanish
companies already use it, especially Linux technology. On the other
hand, 26% of the companies in the survey are thinking of
incorporating these technologies in the near future.

The favorable tendency in the use of open source systems has
been increased by diverse factors, like the degree of maturity of
the main GNU/Linux applications, the bet by big companies and
sectors such as Public Administration and the growing popularity
among the media who are using Linux, offered as a big alternative
to owner based software.

These figures indicate that, in Spain, the tendency in the use
of Linux is favorable, occupying the third position in Europe in
the use of technologies based in Open Source. The results of
similar studies like the FLOSS report, carried out on big companies
in the UK, Germany, and Sweden show that 43% of German firms, 31%
of English firms, and 18% of Swedish companies use Open Source
technologies.

Download
xpdf

Andago
Report (PDF format)