I read this  about how the ecosystem is working between the open source providers and the outsourcers. Below are some highlights from it.

Several Open Source firms have mentioned that Indian outsourcing shops are becoming very good customers and in some ways are really starting to drive enterprise IT adoption of Open Source.  For example, one Open Source company mentioned to me that several Indian outsourcers were aggressively using their distributions as way to cheaply prototype solutions for clients without having to actually buy a license. 

If this is indeed a real trend (and the logic/economics make a lot of sense) than it would appear that Indian outsourcers are one of Open Source's best friends.  Not only are they driving adoption of the products into enterprises (both overtly and somewhat covertly), but because everyone is hiring them as "experts", their endorsement of open source platforms is likely to start swaying the minds of a lot of internal IT types ("If it's good enough for the experts, it's good enough for us").

Outsourcers are definitely focused on being cost competitive.  What's more, support services have the potential to become a critical component of their business models as it gives them a means to not only generate more stable non-project based revenue streams, but also a persistent connection to their customers.  After all, what better way to amortize their up-front training costs and ensure continuing proficiency than to have their own troops continue to support Open Source products once they are deployed.

Conclusion - The first chapter was the relatively long process of building a grass roots movement to embrace Open Source.  The second chapter was largely about big companies selectively co-opting elements of Open Source in an attempt to commoditize competitors' products (IBM's masterful embrace of Linux as a way to kill off Windows NT's march into the glass house comes to mind).  The third chapter, our current place in the story, is characterized by the rapid growth and financial viability of Open Source companies combined with a competitive response from some of the same Proprietary software firms that now belatedly realize they have created a monster.  At this rate, the forth chapter may well be a battle between outsourcers, who seek to use Open Source as way to commoditize all software, and Open Source firms who seek to build sustainable support businesses without giving away the farm.  Alternatively this chapter could end up witnessing a strong alliance between the two sets of firms which results in a win/win for both sides (and a lose/lose for proprietary software firms).  From my perspective, it's not clear right now which way things are going to go, but it is clear that things will likely be fun to watch.

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Tags: outsource - open+source - offshore - india

Prashanth Rai