In the December ActiveState Newsletter Quick Poll, we asked our readers about their open source use and policies.
92% of developers surveyed use open source in their personal development–but what about corporate use of open source?
Of those surveyed, almost 85% work in a corporate environment.
Furthermore:
- 93% of the corporate employees polled use open source at work
- only 87% think their employer allows the use of open source
- 6.5% said that their employer does not allow open source use at work, and the remaining,
- 6.5% weren’t sure if it was allowed.
That means that some respondents are using open source in their organization, even though they do not think that their employer allows it.
Even though 87% claimed that their employer did allow the use of open source in development, only 36.7% said their company has an open source policy. 33.3% said their company or organization does not have a policy on open source, and the remaining 30% were unsure.
The breakdown of respondents by organization type can be seen below:
Why is it important to know if your organization allows the use of open source if you’re using it?
Using open source in your corporate environment can leave you liable when you least expect it, or you may be unintentionally distributing someone else’s intellectual property. Download our White Paper: Ten Myths About Running Open Source Software in Your Business.
If you’re using open source in your organization, check to see if there’s an open source policy you can reference.
Congratulations to Terry Hamptom, who has won our monthly quick poll drawing for an ActiveState branded t-shirt! We’ll be in touch shortly.
