The availability and accessibility of the source code is also a major advantage of open source storage software, especially for organizations that archive data for long periods of time. Charles Wegryzn, is a developer for Retriever Technologies in Santa Fe, N.M., which is working on an open source content management and digital archiving software. Wegryzn says it used to be fairly typical for users to buy software from IBM and IBM would include the source code inside. "Then Microsoft came along and changed everything. With open source, we are going back to our roots of how computer software sales used to work."

Cambridge Computer's Farmer thinks archived data is the single largest value proposition for open source storage software. Supporting proprietary data formats long term and the possibility of vendors going out of business who provide those formats are valid user concerns now. Farmer says, "With open source, at least you know you will have support in 25 years since you own the code."

Open Source's Hidden Costs

Despite the benefits open source storage software offers, users need to establish what the hidden costs of open source storage software are, experts say. The major factors that affect the total cost of ownership are:

- Product installation and configuration documentation