Open source software is gaining ground in mid-to-large sized companies in Europe. According to analyst house IDC, one third of these businesses now report "significant live use" of an open source database of some description.

The researchers suggest that open source is, in fact, eating into the market share of proprietary software products. IDC analyst Bo Lykkegaard described the finding as one of the more "surprising" outcomes of the 2005 software end-user survey.

He went on: "Another interesting result was how important European companies perceive software to be for their ability to compete. More than half of the respondents said that software technology is 'very important' to their business success."

This finding contradicts claims made by some industry observers that IT is no longer a source of competitive advantage, Lykkegaard concluded.

The survey was carried out in March among a sample of 625 companies across western Europe. ®

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