Our Readers Trust Open Source

eWEEK Europe readers have given a resounding thumbs-up to open source software, with half using it in a big way – although a substantial number still feel it can’t be trusted.

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the respondents use open source at least to the extent of testing it, with fifty percent either using it “in major production systems” or “wherever possible”, according to the results of a poll in which we asked “What is your organisation’s attitude to open source?

Some people have their doubts

Despite this, there are still some objections and difficulties involved with the adoption of open source software. Among the people who don’t use open source, the most popular reason was “because it can’t be trusted” (13 percent of respondents). Trust can be an issue, and almost scuppered Bristol City Council’s plans to move to open source, before the Cabinet Office ruled that open source email systems are secure enough.

Twelve percent of respondents simply prefer proprietary software, while seven percent admit that they would use open source if only they weren’t locked into a proprietary software contract.

We suspect that these opinions may be behind the sluggish adoption of open source in the public sector. Government departments have proven very reluctant to implement a policy to support open source.

The results repeat those of a previous poll from last year – which found a large proportion of readers use open source seriously. The proportion isn’t comparable, as we changed the answers in response to comments on last year’s open source poll.

Which business tablet do you like?

Our next question is back in the field of gadgets for business. The Apple iPad is clearly the leading tablet, but it was conceived as a consumer product, and a lot of its competitors are aiming specifically at business users, where the Apple product still has some detractors.

It is a confused market, but are any of the rival tablets making a success of it? If we rule out the iPad, which of the contenders would you use for business?  Would it be the Samsung Galaxy Tab?  Or the Lenovo ThinkPad? The venerable Dell Streak?  Or the newly arrived Motorola ET1? How about the PlayBook, from troubled RIM?

There is also the HTC Flyer, and the convertible Asus EEE Pad. There  is the hard-drive-toting Archos G9 and the low-cost mass-market Amazon Kindle Fire (admittedly those last two are not really conceived as a business device, but you might need their ability or price point).

Whatever your favourite business tablet, let us know. If we have missed it off the list, use the ‘Other’ field to add it.