The OSA recently asked its member CEO's about their predictions for 2008.
Here are mine:
1. What will trigger increasing adoption of open source in the enterprise in 2008? Will adoption be at the same pace in Europe? The U.S.? Asia? Which region will lead?
The trigger will be two reinforcing community developments - enterprise and commercial companies leveraging open
source. - They will collaborate among their respective communities and together themselves to implement 
best practices and sharing successful solutions and working collective issues like interoperability. I believe the US will lead.
2. What is the biggest challenge for the open source software industry in 2008? What about for your company, is it the same challenge or something different?
I don't see an open source software industry. To me open source is an approach to developing and licensing software. The think the challenge for the commercial companies leveraging open source is to build a clear brand that leads the average IT buyer of software to believe that software that leverages open source is better than pure proprietary solutions. Our challenge is to demonstrate that collabsourcing will generate 2-3x the savings that typical outsourcing approaches provide.
3. How big of an effect will licensing have on open-source software in 2008? Is your company considering adopting GPLv3? Why or why not?
Open source licensing will continue to bother enterprise users but the dissemination of best implementation practices including license management will reduce this issue somewhat.
4. What will be the biggest surprise in open source in 2008?
That the focus will shift from interoperability and licensing issues to momentum around a community of commercial companies that demonstrate that open source is the "prime source" for IT innovation.
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