The debate over the costs associated with using closed-source and open-source software has been raging for years now, and a new study from the European Union is certain to add fuel to the fire. Titled the "Economic impact of open source software on innovation and the competitiveness of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in the EU," the study looks at the role of OSS in the economy, its direct economic impact, indirect economic impact, and concludes with trends, scenarios, and policy strategies.

The headline-grabbing data is found about a third of the way through the 287-page report. In a section titled "User benefits: interoperability, productivity, and cost savings," the study's authors (researchers from five European universities) make the claim that OSS is a less-expensive alternative to proprietary software.

Six public and private organizations that have transitioned to OSS were studied, and the authors found that while OSS migration costs were high, initial purchasing costs were higher for proprietary solutions. Maintenance costs are comparablewith the OSS solution being more expensive in some casesbut the overall annual total cost of ownership was lower for OSS in five of the six cases studied.



Data source: EU. Note: TO did not report initial OSS costs

SGV: Consorzio dei Cumini della Provincia di Bolzano; Extremadura: Spanish region;

PP: Province of Pisa; SK: Public Administration of the city of Skopje, Macedonia;

TO: Törökbálint Nagyközség Polgármesteri Hivatala; BH: Province of Bolzano-Bozen

"Our findings show that, in almost all the cases, a transition toward open source reports savings on the long-term costs of ownership of the software products," says the study's authors.

The organizations studied made the move from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org as part of their transition to OSS, and the study looks at the overall productivity of workers before and after. Overall, the report found "no particular delays or lost [sic] of time in the daily work due to the use of OpenOffice.org." Researchers also surveyed workers, with 20 percent reporting that they could be just as productive using the open-source office suite, 70 percent saying that they experienced some problems but could still be just as productive, with the remaining 10 percent reporting that they were less productive with OpenOffice.org.

Researchers also looked at overall OSS penetration in Europe. The continent's investment in OSS software amounts to €22 billion (compared with €36 billion in the US), which represents 20.5 percent of total software investment.

The report concludes with some recommendations for EU policymakers. First, and foremost, policies that favor proprietary software over OSS should be changed. Researchers suggest supporting OSS in research, avoiding vendor lock-in in educational settings, providing equitable tax treatment for OSS creators, supporting OSS in "precompetitive research and standardization," and encouraging partnerships between the enterprise and the OSS community.