Aiven: 91% of developers say open source is in their future

Enterprise adoption of open source software has grown rapidly, and 91% of developers said in a recent survey they expect open source to be part of their make up a part of their organizations software plans in the years to come, according to Aiven, a software company that combines open source technologies with cloud infrastructure.

Above: The survey revealed growing positivity towards open source, with respondents listing twice as many benefits of the technology, as they did disadvantages.

Image Credit: Avien

The survey revealed growing positivity towards open source among cloud and database developers in the United Kingdom, with respondents listing twice as many benefits as they did disadvantages. The most popular advantage listed by developers was the transparency of open source code, which makes it easier to find and fix bugs quickly. 69% of respondents identified this as a key benefit. Other benefits included reduced vendor lock in (53%) and the ability to build your own features (53%). The most cited obstacle to using open source was maintenance, which 52% of respondents viewed as a challenge. Other difficulties included configuring or installing the software (48%), a lack of support (45%), and hidden costs (27%).

Given these challenges identified, businesses are looking for solutions to make open source easier to adopt. 35% of respondents indicated they would opt for a managed open source solution in the future, allowing them to avoid the burden of installation and maintenance and spend more time focusing on business critical tasks. As businesses look to grow post-pandemic, managed solutions will likely continue to grow in demand.

Aiven’s research was conducted by Resonance on behalf of Aiven in January/February 2021. The study surveyed 200 UK developers who work in large enterprises and who specialize in cloud and database technology.