EU study says OSS has better economics than proprietary software

Wow, I wonder if I can get my hands on this one… According to this ArsTechnica post, the European Union has released a study on the economic impact of open source software (OSS) and found it to be good. Naturally, Microsoft, Adobe, and others with business models tied to high-priced proprietary software will disagree. As ArsTechnica reports,

In a section titled “User benefits: interoperability, productivity, and cost savings,” the study’s authors (researchers from five European universities) make the claim that OSS is a less-expensive alternative to proprietary software…. “Our findings show that, in almost all the cases, a transition toward open source reports savings on the long-term costs of ownership of the software products,” says the study’s authors.

As one of the report’s recommendations, the EU is encouraged to change its policies that tend to favor proprietary software and instead do more to pave the way for OSS adoption. Unless you’re a stockholder in one of the software companies mentioned earlier, this is great news!

ArsTechnica also published this interesting chart: