'In the end, the consumer is the one that chooses the product and the better product will always win in the long run; so let the industry innovate, encourage competition, because this is how the industry could find a niche and do well,' said Goh.

In the study, 99 percent of the Filipino respondents agree that freedom of choice is important, while 92 percent said that there currently is freedom of choice in the software market. Across Asia and in the Philippines, Goh said there appears to be sufficient awareness on open source software (OSS) and most respondents agree that having OSS in the market, in fact, provides more choice to the customers. 'The people should realize that they have a choice; this is not a question of which is the better product but having a choice to choose whichever fits your purpose,' he added.