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Governments and businesses outside the United States are leading the push to find alternatives to Microsoft for their software needs, according to a report released Tuesday by research company Gartner.

The reasons for seeking an alternative include concern over licensing issues, security breaches, and the grassroots power of open-source software, according to Gartner.

In the Asia-Pacific region, governments in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia are encouraging government departments and businesses to replace Microsoft products with a combination of Linux programs, other open-source products, and software from local vendors.

Several governments in Europe and Latin America have followed suit, looking for ways to avoid exporting increasing amounts of their gross domestic product to a U.S.-based company, Gartner reported.

"Governments and businesses, especially outside the United States, are increasingly interested in pursuing strategies that insulate them from Microsoft's growing influence on the IT industry, even if alternate solutions aren't exactly a perfect fit," the Gartner report said.

Similar Strategy

Many large businesses in those regions have implemented Linux for reasons similar to those cited by government departments.

In North America, where Microsoft's strength is less of an issue, concern focuses on enabling Microsoft's rivals to exist in an "ecosystem" dominated by the Redmond, Washington-based company.

The most popular alternatives to Microsoft are Linux and other open-source software products such as the Apache Web server. Perceived benefits of using open-source software includes lower or free initial costs, freedom from vendor lock-in, better security, and the potential to help drive local IT economies, Gartner said.

The main difficulty lies in integrating different pieces of open-source software to attain maximum benefit from IT investments, according to Gartner.

"Businesses that choose Linux and open-source integration over Microsoft solutions will need new processes in the overall development, deployment, maintenance, and support of their IT infrastructures," Gartner wrote. "A disciplined and carefully considered best-practices process is essential to delivering maximum returns and benefits from Linux and open-source applications. Without it, the investments could lead to higher, unanticipated costs."

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