More than half of the large firms in North America are employing open source software in some fashion, and another 19% are planning to use it by the end of the year, according to Forrester Research. In a report entitled "How Firms Should Work With the Open Source Ecosystem," Forrester outlines the history and drivers behind the trend and looks forward to the development of what they label the open source ecosystem.

The report, issued in early October, was the result of interviews with more than 30 different vendors and enterprises over nine months (that's a long study window for a fast moving area). Companies interviewed included a mixture of industry stalwarts, such as 3M, IBM and Hewlett-Packard, and some of the highest profile new names, including SpikeSource, Black Duck, and Jboss.

Full Article.