Worldwide Momentum Toward Open Source Grows

Bill McCreary, global CTO at $5 billion glass manufacturer Pilkington, uses open source selectively—a Linux OS on the server side for process control equipment, which manufactures and processes glass. His team is regularly evaluating expanding open source into key areas of his company, including Linux on the desktop and open-source bolt-ons for ERP.

In addition, during his many travels around the world, McCreary sees growing momentum for open-source technology, especially in the United Kingdom. One element that is driving the open-source discussion globally is cost savings. “The Financial Times runs open-source articles almost daily and as a result, many bu-siness executives are asking me about the technology,” says McCreary. “Some of them think IT costs would go down to zero if we completely adopted open source.”

Many people also see open source as a great way to solve technology needs without vendor companies. Instead of dealing with vendors, businesses can rely on the open-source community for code and help with problem resolution.