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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

The State of Open Source Software in 2025 [linuxfoundation.org]:

A few weeks ago, Linux Foundation Research [linuxfoundation.org] published "The State of Global Open Source 2025 [linuxfoundation.org]," the third annual report based on its survey of the open source community. The report highlights the evolution of open source software (OSS) from a productivity tool to a key component of global mission-critical infrastructures. The 2025 global survey on which it's based confirms that organizations depend on OSS as the backbone of their critical systems.

Given my long involvement with open source technologies [irvingwb.com] and the Linux Foundation [irvingwb.com], I was invited to write the Foreword of the 2024 Open Source report [linuxfoundation.org], where I tried to explain why open source has been so successful over the past several decades:

"For centuries, experts have worked together to jointly address some of the most complex and important problems of their times, from exploring the secrets of the universe to developing new healthcare treatments. Open source is part of this long tradition of collaborative innovation."

[...] The 2025 report warns that despite open source software being the backbone of organizations' critical systems, "most lack the governance and security frameworks to manage this dependency safely. While expecting enterprise-level reliability and support, organizations systematically underinvest in the security practices, formal governance structures, community engagement, and comprehensive strategies that production environments demand. ... This governance gap creates substantial risk exposure given the mission-critical nature of these deployments."

[...] "The 2025 World of Open Source Survey reveals a paradox: while open source software has achieved mission-critical status with widespread adoption across enterprise technology stacks, organizational maturity significantly lags behind this adoption," said the report in conclusion. "This disconnect creates significant business risks: organizations depend on foundational technologies they cannot adequately assess, understand, or strategically influence."

Finally, the report offers a few key recommendations:

• Establish open source governance structures. Implement Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) or formalize open source strategies to manage compliance, security, and contribution workflows.
• Strengthen security evaluation practices. Move beyond the community health checks currently used by 44% of organizations to implement systematic security assessment frameworks.
• Establish enterprise-grade support arrangements. Organizations should establish support arrangements with sub-12-hour response times for mission-critical workloads.
• Promote strategic participation through active engagement. Prioritize sponsoring critical open source dependencies to ensure project sustainability and gain strategic influence over technology roadmaps.

Original Submission