A characterisation of open source software adoption decisions in South African organisations

The objective of this research is to characterise the factors influencing Open Source Software(OSS) adoption decisions in South African organisations. OSS is used extensively throughout theworld, but there is a large amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding decisions to adoptOSS. The research improved this situation by determining the adoption factors that are relevant toSouth African organisations.OSS adoption is influenced by individual and organisational technology adoption factors. Anextensive literature revealed the technology adoption factors relevant to OSS adoption. Adoptionfactors identified in literature were localised to the South African context, taking into account bothpublic and private sector organisations.The research has found that OSS adoption factors identified in literature are relevant in a SouthAfrican context. Factors investigated include access to source code, adoption costs, softwarefreedom and control, technological factors, support factors, organisational factors andenvironmental factors.An important factor in OSS adoption decisions is the choice between vendor and community basedOSS and the skills and resource requirements. Choosing community based software requiresadditional training, skills and resources. Organisations should take into account the effect of OSSdevelopment methodology on adoption decision factors. Important adoption decision factorsinclude software compatibility (open standards), compatibility different hardware platforms (crossplatform capabilities) and software and hardware vendor independence.The research concludes with recommendations approaching OSS adoption decisions whenconsidering the choice between OSS and proprietary software.