From time to time I see threads asking for references to be used to convince Powers_That_Be to allow or use Perl, and maybe other Open Source products.
This recent special report from eWeek takes a valiant, and even handed, stab at it. I won't attempt a review of the report here as the report is quite long, except to say I've seen several worse attempts at this topic, and not many better (any? I can't recall any... there must be others.) Generally, this report is likely to be a keeper for those that may need a broad, arm's length view of Open Source for the enterprise.
Brief excerpts:
"Open-source software quietly moved into the enterprise, embraced by data center managers who were able to grasp the value of cheap, malleable software for running discrete servers."
"In the last couple of years, however, the movement has blossomed not only within enterprise IT departments but also at technology vendors up to and including IBM, Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Apple Computer Inc"
The article mentions some objections sometimes mentioned in those in-house discussions including cost of testing, frequent updating (including patches and bug fixes), support, adequate desktop usability, and others.
A surprising mention is a criteria for evaluating an open source product by estimating the vitality of its community. Then it says, "However, it's been eWeek Labs' experience that even the smallest open-source projects can offer good support."
The report is in three sections with Perl mentioned in the third, "Broaden Options, With Caution".
On the whole, the report takes a broad view, attempting to cover, or at least summarize, a variety of open source projects that enterprises may, or should consider. Everything from web servers, ERP/CRM (I'd never heard of the one mentioned), accounting, LDAP, Perl, PHP, OSes, client-side, handheld, and collaboration to storage.
eWeek didn't spend near enough column-inches on languages, but Perl got the most of what they did. Given that the report seems to have only been interested in applications, I'm not surprised. They might've helped their audience more by discussing the value of Perl, et al, in managing and maintaining most of the other products they discussed.
They did a credible advocacy job, even if they didn't think that was their goal. They get ++ from me.
HTH