Free and Open Source Software Costing Vendors $60 Billion?

Whenever some trade group, industry analyst or otherwise states that something is costing some group of people some arbitrary amount of money, I get really peeved. First of all, you are assuming that the 'victim' would have made that money in the first place; often ignoring any other market forces like competition. Second, you are grabbing figures from random places and attempting to extrapolate some meaningful data from it. In that case, I can say that these same vendors are costing the free and open source market the same amount of money by using patents and such to circumvent true innovation. A recent study, like the shill it is, indicates that free and open source software is costing proprietary and closed source (read profiteering gluttons) upwards of $60 billion annually.

Open Source software is raising havoc throughout the software market. It is the ultimate in disruptive technology, and while to it is only 6% of estimated trillion dollars IT budgeted annually, it represents a real loss of $60 billion in annual revenues to software companies," said Jim Johnson, Chairman, The Standish Group International, Boston, MA

Not only do I find this number arbitrary and lacking any real relevance, I despise the fact that inflammatory terms like "raising havoc" and "real loss" are being used to describe it. It would be more professional and acceptable to say that Open Source software, by nature of its inherent innovation and quality, is rising in prominence within the software industry. This sector has garnered $60 billion in annual revenues and is poised to reach even higher. This new business model is one that should be emulated and aspired to.

How's that for fair and balanced reporting? What do I say to The Standish Group? Who paid you do do this report? Bunch of shills.....