Understanding the Financial Benefits of Open Source

My focus late last year was the creation of a report for IT managers tasked with justifying an open source intiative financially. I wanted to provide a simple, easy-to-use, guide with an associated calculator. The outcome was a 30+ page report entitled, "Understanding the Financial Benefits of Open Source". JBoss licensed the work for distribution and I am pleased to announce that this report is now available for download on The JBoss Executive Resource Center (registration required).

Let me make it clear that I had full editorial control over this report. The content is my own. JBoss has licensed it for distribution, as they believe it will help to educate their prospective customers on the financial justification process.

The premise of the report is that you may be able to save money on your open source initiaitive (or you may not). Each project, each organization, each initiative is unique, and no vendor or consulting firm can make that determination for you without first understanding the unique aspects of your business.

I hope you will send me your feedback on this report. My intention is to update the document over the next few months as IT end users (and ISVs) use this material and help perfect the model. I need your feedback to back this report better.