Almost all devs are struggling to switch to open-source

Open Source
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Enterprises using open-core code would love to move to open-source completely, but are hitting major roadblocks which are slowing down the transition, a new report has found.

Polling application development decision-makers around the world, Instacluster claims most firms see the benefits of open-source code, namely cutting down on costs (45%), being able to port code more easily (38%), and having a large community of developers as support (40%). 

Other notable advantages include the lack of licensing fees (41%), as well as the total access to application source code (40%).

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Struggling with support

However, 70% of firms struggle with problems surrounding inter-company strategy and support. 

When it comes to inter-company strategy, 39% said it was inconsistent, changing from one department to another. Roughly a third (31%) said they lacked proper support, while 29% named the lack of in-house skills as their biggest obstacle to success. 

What’s more, more than a quarter (29%) said they were having trouble moving existing code, due to license lock-ins. 

What’s particularly interesting about this report’s findings is what open-core users see as their biggest advantages. Open-core is built on open-source as the foundation, expanding it with proprietary features which, more often than not, cost money.

That being said, more than two in five (41%) cited lower risk as their biggest advantage, 39% greater efficiency, and 33% easier cloud transitions. For the report’s authors, these are all strengths coming from the open-source part of the solution, not the proprietary additions.

The majority of the respondents (84%) that already use open-source solutions also said they were interested in hiring an external managed service consultant to help support their open-source deployments. For more than two-thirds of the respondents (68%), the consultant would focus mostly on security. For 66% - scalability, and for 65%, on more or less - everything. 

Via: VentureBeat

Sead Fadilpašić

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.