Free Open Source Software Is Costing Vendors $60 Billion?

conan1989 writes to tell us that a recent report from the Standish Group is claiming that open source is costing the traditional software market somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 billion per year in revenue. "MySQL Marten Mickos has often spoken of 'taking a $10 billion market and making it a $3 billion market.' If you consider that open source has taken out $60 billion of traditional software revenues there will be a bloodletting in the proprietary world soon enough. It's a great time to be an open source company."

Wheelchair industry

[Dan East]

The wheelchair industry would be a $10 trillion dollar a year industry if people didn't have legs. But since people are indeed born with legs, it is a moot point.

Not only the software vendors are suffering.

[yet-another-lobbyist]

We just completed a study for a company selling bottled oxygen: the free availability of air on the planet causes them losses in the neighborhood of $866 billions in revenue -- annually!

Re:Stupid.

[Karem Lore]

ME TOO! I have lost $94 million dollars last Friday ,and countless billions over the last few years, due to some other euromillions lottery players...

Re:Non Free Vendors are also Vandals.

[MrNaz]

This is Slashdot. We know that there is no need to pay people to break Windows. It was already broken when we got here.

A real horror story for business

[Anonymous Coward]

This is Slashdot. We know that there is no need to pay people to break Windows. It was already broken when we got here

I often wonder how many billions all the free high-quality insight and advice that we give out here at Slashdot costs consultants in lost revenue.

Re:Perhaps a better way of phrasing it would be

[icydog]

while true; do
./install-openoffice.sh
done

muahaha... my brilliant plan should be killing MS any minute now...

In related news...

[Spy der Mann]

In related news, the Sheriff of Nottingham has announced that poverty has increased 600% since Robin Hood arrived. "The lack of money in the King's treasure vault is more than enough proof that poverty has invaded our glorious country", he said.

Re:Stupid.

[jollyreaper]

This kind of "Look how much money we're not making" is stupid regardless of who is espousing it. They're trying to prove a negative, and monetize a handful of nothing, and the sick part about it is that they honestly think that they're not completely crazy.

This is just like the RIAA trying to put a dollar figure on money lost to filesharing, or the press trying to put a dollar figure on "productivity loss" based on this or that sports event. They just need to get a freaking life, and start trying to measure things that exist.

Actually, it sounds an awful lot like the pimp smacking his ho saying "Look at all them people walkin' by with mah money in they pockets! Bitch, get out there and get me mah money!" Note that the pimp makes the assumption of ownership before any business has even transacted, he already knows the money is his and is furious that these "bitch-ass niggas" are still in possession of it.

So to rephrase it: "Bitch, lookit them open source punks givin' it away fo' free! That's mah market segment, nigga! Damn, it's hard out there for a closed-source proprietary software company."

It just gets worse and worse!

[Anonymous Coward]

[...] for $1,000 per copy.

Slashdot readers not buying this report has now cost The Standish Group $60 BILLION DOLLARS!!!

Alternative Title

[StormReaver]

The alternative title which says the same thing is: "Free Open Source Software Is Saving Companies $60 Billion A Year".

Re:Broken Window Fallacy

[Hucko]

Bloke, have you noticed the proliferation of non-alphabetic signs? Slowly, but we are returning to hieroglyphics.