The Future of Open Source Technology and Acquia

North Bridge Venture Partners, one of the investors in Acquia where I work, recently conducted a survey on the future of open source software. The 435 respondents consisted of mostly open source vendors, software developers, consultants, integrators, and private sector companies. An overwhelming 96%, up from 81% in 2008, believe the economic turbulence is good for open source software.

Low acquisition and maintenance costs along with freedom of vendor lock-in remained the primary reasons that people choose open source software opposed to proprietary systems. However, lack of internal technical skills and unfamiliarity with open source technologies are the primary barriers to adoption.

Interestingly, people believe that about around 70% of software purchases will be open source 5 years from now. This response remained roughly the same in 2007 and 2008 with a slight increase to 79% in 2009.

Here's a slideshow from the survey:

Acquia is commercializing open source Drupal, a content management system that enables you to quickly build social publishing websites. Currently, we primarily provide support, network services, training, and consulting. However, we have some pretty cool projects in the works. While WordPress makes it incredibly easy to launch a blog, we're in the process of implementing a similar type model, but for social publishing, code named "Acquia Gardens". Here's a brief explanation from Dries' blog:

Many individuals and organizations want a killer web site, but have no idea that Drupal is a great way to build one or to connect with other websites. Even if they did hear about Drupal, few non-technical people succeed in installing and hosting a Drupal site. In much the same way that Wordpress.com and Ning make it easy for people to start blogging or set up a social network, Acquia Gardens will provide an on-ramp for people to experience the awesome power of a Drupal based social publishing website. Our goal is to make the base service free of charge, and to introduce Drupal to millions of new users. Having a free entry point is essential to promoting viral adoption via word of mouth, which will help dramatically increase awareness of what Drupal has to offer. To make the services sustainable, we will charge for premium services and features.

Dries started Drupal while attending University of Antwerp in 2000. It grew out of a project that started as a small news site with a built in web board. He was inspired by his desire to discuss and share simple things with his friends on the web, so he started the site to enable him and his friends to share notes and messages, such as notifying each other of where they were going to dinner. It's since grown into sophisticated platform that is used by brands such as Sony, Nike, Pfizer, and Popular Science, as well as the government who uses it for recovery.gov. You can read more about Drupal's history here.