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January 5, 2009
TechNewsWorld suggests that the technology industry may be relatively insulated from job losses in the recession. Yes, technology has its share of job cuts, and any cut is painful if you're on the receiving end, but there are bright spots in the economy.
Open source is one of them.
While the article points to a few different areas of technology that should comparatively thrive in a downturn, as I note in the article, open source is particularly well-suited to a troubled economy:
In a recession, headcount looks like a cost center, but open source can turn employees into profit centers -- or, at worst, into less costly cost centers.
Why? Because to the extent that you're savvy with repurposing others' code, it means you can write a lot less code while simultaneously getting a lot more done.
Google is perhaps the classic example of this. Google writes a heck of a lot of software, but it also borrows heavily from Linux, MySQL, various Apache projects, etc. Google arguably wouldn't be Google without open source, as it's dependent on the cost and flexibility advantages that open source delivers.
Enterprise IT can take a cue from Google and make its employees more efficient by encouraging them to use more open source, a topic that Google's Chris DiBona will be addressing at this year's Open Source Business Conference. For those that already do, you're ahead of the pack (and making a nice income as a result).
Do more with less. That's the open-source ethos, and one that should pay handsomely in a recession.
Matt Asay is general manager of the Americas and vice president of business development at Alfresco, and has nearly a decade of operational experience with commercial open source and regularly speaks and publishes on open-source business strategy. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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