There is no shortage of large-scale research, business analysis and government reports on the use of Linux and other open-source software. The overwhelming majority of these research papers and reports all point to the same conclusion, Linux and open-source software can offer numerous benefits, along with immediate cost savings, when deployed successfully. Below are some of the more recognized reports on Linux and other open-source software. Please keep in mind and respect each of the author's individual copyrights on the respective articles and reports.

Business (Small Business, Corporations)

Education (Schools, Universities, Colleges)

Government (Municipal, Provincial, Federal)

Healthcare (Hospitals, Medical Practice)

International Reports (Europe, United Nations, UNESCO etc)

General Reports on Open-Source, Open-Standards and Linux

Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers! (2007).

"This paper provides quantitative data that, in many cases, using open source software / free software (abbreviated as OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS) is a reasonable or even superior approach to using their proprietary competition according to various measures. This paper’s goal is to show that you should consider using OSS/FS when acquiring software. This paper examines market share, reliability, performance, scalability, security, and total cost of ownership. It also has sections on non-quantitative issues, unnecessary fears, OSS/FS on the desktop, usage reports, governments and OSS/FS, other sites providing related information, and ends with some conclusions."

"This ROADMAP – and the best practices and recommendations it provides – represents an unprecedented collaborative effort of senior government officials from thirteen nations, thought leaders from five global organizations, experts from two leading technology companies and academics from one of the world’s most respected universities. Economic growth depends increasingly on information and communications technologies (ICT); countries, enterprises and individuals need to harness this power through collaboration, innovation and development. This report demonstrates, by its process and its outcome, the enormous potential of open collaboration and information sharing."

“Open Source developers have, perhaps without conscious intent, created a new and surprisingly successful economic paradigm for the production of software. Examining that paradigm can answer a number of important questions. It's not immediately obvious how Open Source [1] works economically. Probably the worst consequence of this lack of understanding is that many people don't understand how Open Source could be economically sustainable, and some may even feel that its potential negative effect upon the proprietary software industry is an overall economic detriment. Fortunately, if you look more deeply into the economic function of software in general, it's easy to establish that Open Source is both sustainable and of tremendous benefit to the overall economy. Open Source can be explained entirely within the context of conventional open-market economics. Indeed, it turns out that it has much stronger ties to the phenomenon of capitalism than you may have appreciated.”

"To date, research on the Free and/or Open Source Software (henceforth, F/OSS) movement has been oriented mostly by the improbable fact of F/OSS’s existence. The development of complex software through highly distributed, mostly-volunteer collaboration ran against a number of standard economic expectations of how people behaved and how large-scale production could be organized. It demanded explanations: who contributes and why? What do contributors gain from it? Is the process sustainable? Is it translatable to other contexts? How does it relate to other forms of economic reganization, notably the firm?"

A comprehensive summary in the various trends expected in the continued development and utilization of Linux and other open-source software.

"We believe both Linux and open source software are changing the agendas of technology providers and users alike. Interest is global and, in some countries, the discussion of open-source versus proprietary software has entered into the realm of political debate. Fueling confusion is a technology industry coming to terms with the implications of open sourcesoftware, along with competitive rhetoric. Some suggest there is significant risk in using open source strategies, while others believe it increases the democratization of computing."

"In a world where Microsoft increasingly threatens to dominate computing and the Internet, the strongest potential rival to its dominance is no longer its traditional commercial rivals but, surprisingly, a seemingly motley collection of free software tools and operating systems collectively dubbed "open source" software. Unlike most commercial software, the core code of such software can be easily studied by other programmers and improved upon--the only proviso being that such improvements must also be revealed publicly and distributed freely in a process that encourages continual innovation."