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Black Duck Launches 2017 Open Source 360° Survey
[April 11, 2017]

Black Duck Launches 2017 Open Source 360° Survey


Black Duck, the global leader in automated solutions for securing and managing open source, today launched the 2017 Open Source 360° Survey, a new research initiative that will build on the trend analysis and insights provided over the last decade by its predecessor, the Future of Open Source (News - Alert) Survey.

The 2017 Open Source 360° survey is being conducted through Black Duck's Center for Open Source Research & Innovation (COSRI) and will focus on four important areas of open source - usage, risk, contributions and governance/policies.

Created in 2016, COSRI leverages Black Duck's comprehensive open source data-gathering expertise and its skilled teams to conduct cutting-edge open source security, machine-learning and data-mining research. COSRI promotes both the secure use of open source and continuous open source innovation, and shares its findings globally.

"The future of open source software has never been brighter," said Black Duck Chief Marketing Officer Bob Canaway. "Once a speck on the technology landscape, today open source use is ubiquitous worldwide. In fact, recent research reports point out that open source comprises 80% to 90% of the code in a typcal application. Our goal with the Open Source 360° survey is to provide an annual overview of open source's rapid evolution," said Canaway.



"As was the case with the Future of Open Source Survey, we'll collaborate closely with many partners in the open source community to collect and deliver useful information and insights," he said.

COSRI will aggregate the survey results, analyze the data and deliver a report in June.


This year's survey will look closely at:

  • Usage: A focus on where open source fits in the software development and deployment strategy rather than simply how much open source is being used.
  • Risk: Few companies have good visibility into where open source is being used and therefore lack necessary controls, placing them at risk to known security vulnerabilities. The survey will assess whether that is changing in light of the heightened attention to cybersecurity.
  • Contributions: Companies that once forbade developers from using open source are among today's most avid contributors to open source projects. This year's survey will assess contribution trends and look at why companies are contributing.
  • Governance & Policies: The increase in open source use has not always been accompanied by well-developed project selection policies or attention to license obligations. The survey will probe whether companies are becoming more conscious of their need to improve their IP quality.

About Black Duck Software (News - Alert)
Organizations worldwide use Black Duck's industry-leading products to automate the process of securing and managing open source software, eliminating the pain related to security vulnerabilities, compliance and operational risk. Black Duck is headquartered in Burlington, MA, and has offices in San Jose, CA (News - Alert), London, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing. For more information, visit www.blackducksoftware.com.


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