Organizations Invest $7.7 Billion Annually in Open Source Software, Survey Finds

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A groundbreaking 2024 report, a collaboration between GitHub, the Linux Foundation, and Harvard University researchers, published on November 19, 2024, reveals that organizations collectively contribute $7.7 billion annually to open source software (OSS). The 2024 Open Source Software Funding Report based on the inaugural 2024 Open Source Software Funding Survey, highlights the critical role of employee labor, which constitutes 86% of these contributions.

The study identified key challenges in OSS funding, notably a lack of detailed understanding about contributions and the difficulty of measuring decentralized funding operations. Respondents were better informed about direct financial contributions than labor contributions, underscoring a significant blind spot in reporting.

The survey gathered responses from 159 organizations, representing $1.7 billion in OSS contributions. Extrapolating these findings, the researchers estimated a global contribution value of $7.7 billion. However, significant gaps remain, with only 22% of respondents able to specify their organization’s OSS budget allocation.

To address these challenges, the report recommends increasing transparency by documenting contributions, empowering employees to self-report OSS activities, and incorporating regular surveys into monitoring pipelines. The findings urge organizations to prioritize visibility and data-sharing to strengthen the OSS ecosystem. 

Sam Boysel from Harvard University is the lead author of the study. The other authors include Frank Nagle from the Harvard University, Hilary Carter and Anna Hermansen from The Linux Foundation, Kevin Crosby, Jeff Luszcz and Stephanie Lincoln from GitHub, Daniel Yue from Georgia Tech, Manuel Hoffmann from Harvard University and Alexander Staub from University of Lausanne.

Follow this link to learn more about the report.

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https://www.techradar.com/pro/open-source-software-is-now-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry

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