Cloud May Kill Open Source?!
Gartner Blog Network member Andrea DiMaio suggests that the use of open source could be reduced by increased reliance on cloud computing, at least within the government vertical. Andrea points out that although open source and cloud computing are obviously linked, cloud computing is politically popular (as well as the object of considerable hype), and this is distracting attention from the open source movement. Further, she observes, interest in both cloud computing and open source is driven primarily by the potential for reduced costs.
In effect, some of the biggest reasons to go open source, such as cost concerns and independence from vendors (though you still need to use a vendor in some cases,) are drying up.The cloud-based solution will turn out to be not only cheaper, but more flexible in its options, so people are turning to these cloud-based solutions to solve the same problems that open sourcing has in the past, like reducing dependency on Microsoft products and saving on licensing costs.