All the CIOs we spoke to for this story who use open source say they've seen savings over proprietary software, even when accounting for the extra integration work required to bring open source into their architectures. CIO's survey respondents seem convinced too: 59 percent said a lower TCO is open source's primary strength.

Even if open source seems too risky to become part of your strategic plan, you should be experimenting with it, if for no other reason than to use it as a stick to keep your vendors honest. "Even if you decide you don't ever want anything to do with open source, go out and get some and show it to your vendors when they come to call," says Jonathan Eunice, principal analyst at Nashua, N.H.-based research company Illuminata.

The question for CIOs now is not whether they should be using open source but where and how they should be using it. Open source will not replace proprietary software in the next few years (there aren't, for example, enough volunteer developers with a passion for, say, financial derivatives to replace Wall Street applications today, if ever), so CIOs have to make educated decisions about where to apply open source and where to wait.

So?

What's your plan for 2003?