The OSA Top Ten Reasons to Adopt Open Source Software in the Enterprise:

Our little challenge to readers ... do you agree? Have we missed something? Is the order right? Let us know.

1. No upfront license fees and reasonably priced product fees. Many commercial open source applications are available for free download so that potential customers can "try before they buy." Upgrades to versions with additional functionality cost a small fraction of equivalent products from proprietary sources.
2. Pay as you go service contracts. Commercial open source software suppliers commonly provide service contracts to customize and maintain their projects in which customers are billed hourly as services are rendered or in regular installments (monthly or annually).
3. Fast implementation. Installation is a major source of revenue for OSS vendors, and most typically profit very little or not at all until customers are successfully up and running.
4. Quick return on investment. Most commercial open source applications require a significant IT investment for implementation and customization, but the quality of most open source applications out of the box means they begin delivering on their promises quickly, and costs are spread out. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is not just lower than with proprietary software -- it's more affordable.
5. Emphasis on interoperability between OS apps and with closed-source apps. Commercial open source vendors live in the real world, and therefore ensure that their projects can be integrated with legacy systems and related applicaitons, whether they are open or closed.
6. Easy to customize, internally or with help from third party. Given their collaborative beginnings, most open source projects are written as works in progress, with easily understood structures, copious notes and extensive documentation.
7. Scaleable due to modular architecture and open licensing. Typically designed by engineers working in a variety of environments, most open source applications are built to adapt easily from standalone to department to enterprise-wide implementation. The lack of licensing fees makes open source applications easy and inexpensive to extend throughout the enterprise and match to current levels of staffing.
8. Reliable because of diverse developer community working toward excellence not for profit. Most open source developers work as volunteers, giving the primary project team a strong personal incentive to strive for excellence. That is, if the project is not adopted, the developers' time will have been wasted. Furthermore, open source projects typically draw dozens or hundreds of developers who make small contributions for one purpose -- to solve real world problems that hang them up in their day jobs. That's why the 2005 study of software defect rates by Coverity found that open source projects beat proprietary projects on quality 50-to-1!
9. Useful features that are intuitive to use due to open customer/vendor communications. Users with ideas are welcomed in open source communities, and since most commercial vendors get paid for solutions (not licenses), the needs of users are top priority.
10. Safe because customer owns the code and many developers and vendors work with it. The worst case scenario for software buyers comes when the creators of the product stop supporting it or go out of business. With open source projects, the users own the code, and communities operate independently, providing many avenues of support instead of just one. For companies seeking to use open source code in their own products, companies such as Black Duck Software and Palamida can easily find potential licensing conflicts, even after integration.