Software May Be Eating The World, But Open Source Software Is Eating Itself

...the new world of open source is moving at an accelerated, Darwinian pace, leaving no project to rest on its laurels.

Though Dirk Riehle's analysis of the total growth in open source projects is a few years old, if anything the trend he plots has accelerated...

Today much of the interesting code in technology’s most important markets—Big Data, cloud, mobile—is open source. With more activity focused on areas like Hadoop or OpenStack, we should expect the pace and volume of open code creation to increase.

...all successful open-source projects that maintain their lead innovate quickly, with regular releases every few months. While a fast-moving project may be more difficult for enterprises to support, it may also be a key indication that the project will remain relevant.