The majority of UK developers working with proprietary platforms would prefer to work in an open source environment if given the choice, according to a report from Kingpin Intelligence.

A survey of 400 developers from Kingpin's database revealed that 62 per cent of those who do not use open source for professional purposes prefer to use it when outside work.

More than two fifths of respondents also believe that the 'Lamp' software stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) threatens established proprietary platforms.

"This research confirms increasing interest in open source technologies in the UK developer community," said Claire Roy, head of research at Kingpin Intelligence.

"The cost and flexibility benefits of using open source technologies are appealing for developers and organisations in the current financial climate."

However, the report also concluded that existing licences and client requirements are hampering migration.

Quality control is also an issue. Fewer than a third of respondents believe that the open source development process produces higher quality software than Windows-type environments.