This IDC study provides a comprehensive summary of the worldwide packaged software market for 2006 and a five-year revenue forecast by geographic region and operating environment through 2011. Vendor revenue and market share for more than 1,000 vendors are provided for 2006. This study does not contain detailed information for individual software market segments; that is contained in other IDC studies.

"The software marketplace of the future will be shaped by emerging drivers such as Web 2.0, software appliances, service oriented architecture (SOA), unified access to content and data, and open source," said Dick Heiman, director, Model and Forecast Management at IDC. "There are significant risks and challenges facing the software industry, but IDC remains optimistic for continuing growth throughout the remainder of the decade and beyond."