HOW TRUE!
These are financially troubled times - we're cutting positions, freezing salaries, closing sites, slashing the budget ... how can we not look to cost cutting measures including open source. Only fools would nix open source when that is affordable.
We're at the point where the budget situation is so bleak we have no new spending $$. We have to figure out how to pay what little staff we have and keep things up and running.
2009 is a year to focus on maintaining our existing infrastructure, existing business applications and processes while ensuring they are operational and secure.
There is no money to do anything else.

Don't you think it's a bit odd to deride Gartner for being beholden to vendors in the same article that you reference Gartner's hype-cycle model as completely legitimate?

Not that I'm a huge fan of research firms or anything, but it just seems strange.

Interesting piece, Michael! I was struck by the juxtaposition of your prediction:

Facing slumping sales, many technology suppliers will try to increase revenue by raising their service fees and trying to force their clients to upgrade to new hardware and software.

With this one from Cutter's Vince Kellen:

Aged infrastructure will stay in service longer. More companies with way-past-their-prime architectures will attempt coax them along for another year. This will undoubtedly make things doubly difficult as many companies, who will be carrying smaller staffs, will have to find eke more time out of existing staff schedules to care for these aged beasts. Virtualization and low-end storage growth aside, many IT shops will pause and take a few breaths before funding major infrastructure changes.

Tough times for vendors and IT shops alike!

I see a significant surge in some of these spaces in the Government as various agencies attempt to get better at doing age old processes in new ways. The old ways are costing tax payers a great deal of money. The economics in government are a somewhat different from commercial profit and loss driven decision framework and also a bit isulated from the current economic conditions. Recognising that making sound judgements is wase and practical, what thoughts are out there as to how this applies to government technology advancement initiatives.