Protecode: Open Source Code Will Power 95 Pct. of Companies by 2017

Almost all—95 percent, in fact—of companies will be using open source software by 2017 and the adoption of third-party open source code is increasing steadily. Those are among the key findings in a new report from Protecode on open source software.

The report, which the company released in the form of an infographic, draws attention to several trends that affect the open source space:

Some of these findings—such as the fact that automation makes software management easier—are not surprising. But the report offers a bit of quantitative insight on other important issues, including the rate of adoption of open source code.

More generally, the report is interesting because it suggests that the complexity and sluggishness of open source development are increasing as open source assumes an ever-greater presence in the IT world. Historically, one of the main selling points of open source development was that it tended to privilege a "bazaar"-style development model, in which deadlines and centralized orchestration were less important than rapid coding and testing.

Now, the fact that more open source developers report being behind schedule, while at the same time organizations are concerned with managing code in a presumably centralized way, suggests that "cathedral"-style approaches are gaining greater sway.

Protecode specializes in code management solutions, especially those involving legal obligations, security vulnerabilities, IP ownership and quality attributes.