Seagate offers free business intelligence software

Seagate software is giving two of its major business intelligence software products away for free, in the hope that the move will encourage widespread adoption of its software.

Donald McComick, Seagate's product director in EMEA, said: "Currently, business intelligence is being used in only 5 per cent of average companies - we want to grow that and making it free could mean it will become available to all parts of the organisation."

The announcement is part of a growing trend of offering free software in the IT industry, but Seagate believes the freebies will be limited in the long run. McCormick added: "In the short term it's unlikely that all products in the market will be free and it's not worth speculating about the long term."

Rob Hailstone, research director at Bloor Research, discussed the trend: "Businesses recognise you don't get something for nothing - the vendors will make money out of it in the end. But the idea that you can get something for free in the short term is bound to attract a lot of users."

The free-for-all includes Seagate Analysis - a standalone desktop business intelligence application - and a 50 user licence of Seagate Info which is an enterprise information distribution tool.

Users can obtain free copies from the company's Web site at http://www.seagate.com .