This morning my Google alerts and RSS feeds (and a few email forwards) pointed me to several articles based on Datamonitor's report (Nov 2007) on open source in education. The report details spending on software and services for open source solutions within the Education Market. I haven't had a chance to read the report (it's $1500 US) but I did pick up a few key findings from the few articles I read:

• Spending will increase 70% between now & 2012 to $490M
• Spending estimate only covers operating systems and eLearning systems (no ERP)
• Recognition that although there isn't a license to use the software, maintenance, support, and services spending continues

Top attractors to open source according to the report:

• More control over how the applications are developed
• Better return on investment
• Increasing government interest
• Dissatisfaction with Blackboard

One thing that strikes me about this report and many others like it is how ineffective open source software communities and companies are at getting the word out that there are great support and services options that make open source applications as easy to "consume" as proprietary applications. And how effective those that profit from the status quo are at amplifying the FUD factor that you have to have a cadre of developers to support open source software.

"Primarily among these issues is a lack of experienced personnel within an institution. Maintaining and upgrading open source solutions is not a simple process and while communities exist behind open source solutions there is no one at the end of a phone to help fix glitches--as with proprietary software."

On the one hand I'm happy to see continued validation that there's a clear and growing need for the kind of service my company (The rSmart Group) provides. On the other hand we (the Sakai and Kuali communities) and we (rSmart, IBM, and others) clearly need to do a better job at getting the word out than the old guard (Blackboard and others) are at keeping it from being heard.