OSI opens the 2027 State of Open Source Survey with new AI questions
OSI opened the 2027 State of Open Source Survey with Perforce and Eclipse. It adds AI questions and reprints 2026 findings. A donation step is printed on the form.
The short version
OSI opened the 2027 State of Open Source Survey with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation. New questions cover AI adoption, development priorities, and regulation. The post reprints 2026 findings: 98 percent increased or maintained open-source use, lock-in avoidance as the most common driver, and security updates as the most persistent challenge.
A form for 2027, and a reprint of 2026
Nick Vidal's post on the Open Source Initiative site, dated October 16, 2026, announces the 2027 State of Open Source Survey. OSI runs it with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation. The post calls this the sixth year. The new material is a set of AI questions: adoption, development priorities, and regulation. The survey form's own welcome text matches the partner list and adds that the results will be compiled into a report offered at no charge on Perforce's site. Perforce's LinkedIn post, from October 13, points at the same form and lists AI infrastructure, AI-driven security practices, and AI's role in delivery among the new topics. None of that is a 2027 finding. The findings the post actually prints are from the 2026 edition. The open-source desk isOpen Source.
The 2026 numbers the post is willing to repeat
OSI says 98 percent of respondents increased or maintained their use of open source, compared with 96 percent in the 2025 report. It says avoiding lock-in was the most common driver, with that answer especially common in Europe. It says the largest enterprises, 5,000 people and up, spend at least half their time on maintenance, production issues, and bug fixes. It says security updates are the most persistent challenge. It says 55 percent of organizations that failed a compliance audit had end-of-life open source in the picture. Those sentences are last year's instrument, reprinted as context for this year's form. A proposal that is still waiting on a committee, rather than a survey, isthe RPM v6 proposal.
What the form says about the gift
The research.net welcome text says responses are anonymized and will be shared publicly under an open-source license, under Perforce's privacy policy. It says the survey takes about ten minutes. It says that for every 500 valid responses, Perforce increases a Black Girls Code donation by $1000. A pledge tied to a response count is not a result. It is an incentive printed before the count exists. The paper isFutureweb.
Sponsors describing a form are not respondents
LinkedIn copy from Perforce and a blog post from OSI are announcements. They become findings only after the form closes and a report is published. This page will not treat the existence of an AI question as evidence that organizations have adopted anything. The 2026 percentages above are the only quantitative claims this brief will repeat, and they are labeled as the prior edition. Software isSoftware.
Lock-in and end-of-life are different sentences
Avoiding lock-in, as a reason to use open source, and failing an audit because the open source was past its end of life, can both be true in one population. The post prints them as separate findings. A reader who collapses them into open source is either the problem or the cure has skipped the report. Maintenance time at the largest firms is a third sentence, about where the hours go, not about a license. Security isSecurity.
Who the sixth year binds
A sixth-year survey is a series. Continuity lets OSI compare 98 percent with 96 percent. It does not, by itself, say the sample matched, the wording matched, or every region was asked the same way. The post is the source for the comparison it is willing to print. Methodology limits that the post does not print are not invented here. Hardware isHardware.
What this page will not do with the form
This page will not rank vendors, predict 2027 percentages, or tell a reader that answering the form discharges a maintenance duty. The useful record is narrower. A form is open. Partners are named on both the OSI post and the form. AI questions are new. Selected 2026 findings are reprinted. A donation step is printed. Networking is Asked directly, Who is running the 2027 State of Open Source Survey? OSI's post says it is running the survey with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation. The survey form's welcome text names the same partners. This is the sixth year OSI's post claims for the series.Networking.
A survey is not a distribution change
The Fedora conversation about a package format is a proposal with a committee in front of it. This survey is an instrument with a report in front of it. Both are open-source news from the same season. They answer different questions, and a reader who wants the package default still has to read the change proposal. Mobile is Asked directly, What do the new questions add? OSI says the 2027 edition adds questions on AI adoption, development priorities, and regulation. Perforce's LinkedIn post says the form also asks about AI infrastructure, AI-driven security practices, and AI in software delivery. Those are the sponsors' descriptions of the form, not results.Mobile.
Where the announcement sits
The OSI blog is the announcement. The research.net form is the instrument. The LinkedIn post is Perforce's account of the same opening. Nothing here is the 2027 report, because that report is the thing the form is for. The short answer this page will stand on is this: OSI opened the 2027 State of Open Source Survey with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation. New questions cover AI adoption, development priorities, and regulation. The post reprints 2026 findings: 98 percent increased or maintained open-source use, lock-in avoidance as the most common driver, and security updates as the most persistent challenge.
Sources
The reports this brief is filing. Futureweb did not republish them.
Questions
Who is running the 2027 State of Open Source Survey?
OSI's post says it is running the survey with Perforce Zend, OpenLogic, and the Eclipse Foundation. The survey form's welcome text names the same partners. This is the sixth year OSI's post claims for the series.
What do the new questions add?
OSI says the 2027 edition adds questions on AI adoption, development priorities, and regulation. Perforce's LinkedIn post says the form also asks about AI infrastructure, AI-driven security practices, and AI in software delivery. Those are the sponsors' descriptions of the form, not results.
Which 2026 figures does OSI reprint?
The post says 98 percent of respondents increased or maintained open-source use, against 96 percent in the 2025 edition. It says avoiding lock-in was the most common driver, especially in Europe. It says security updates were the most persistent challenge.
What does the post say about audits and maintenance?
OSI says 55 percent of organizations that failed a compliance audit had end-of-life open source. It says the largest enterprises, those with 5,000 or more people, spend at least half their time on maintenance, production issues, and bug fixes.
What is the Black Girls Code line?
The survey form says that for every 500 valid responses, Perforce will increase a donation to Black Girls Code by $1000. That is a sponsor pledge printed on the form, not a count of responses received.