[Novalug] can you "get by" using an open sourced tool vs a licensed one in the near-term? (long)

Maxwell Spangler maxpublic08@maxwellspangler.com
Wed Sep 17 11:25:40 EDT 2008


Whether Free/Open Source Software or proprietary software is the right
choice for a project depends on the many factors involved:  The project
requirements, the team developing the project, the people (like
management) supporting the projects and the users who will ultimately
use it.

There used to be a phrase "Nobody got fired for buying IBM" in the 80s
and 90s.  The idea behind this phrase was that if you bought IBM and
there was a problem, it was just a problem with computers in general
because you bought top quality stuff.  But if you bought the Korean
clone computers and problems occurred, then maybe its your fault for
buying faulty equipment.

If you try to use MySQL in an organization surrounded by supporters of
Oracle, it may cost you political points when limitations or problems
arise.  But more and more smart businesses are seeing Free and Open
Source software as a competitive advantage over developing from scratch
or using proprietary software.  It takes the right combination of
factors but many people are finding success with this approach.

I can clearly imagine times when I would gladly accept proprietary
software over Free Software, but more and more I'm seeing success with
companies mixing Free Software and their own proprietary applications.
My ARCHOS personal media player and my TomTom GPS unit are two examples
of products that compete against multi-million dollar companies yet they
use Linux at the core of their products and its helping them.  They've
clearly got the technical know how to do this and the support of
management so they are pushing ahead and its paying off for them.  This
kind of integration of Free Software won't work for everybody or every
project, but they sure make great examples of how far Free Software has
come and what you can do with it.

-- 
Maxwell Spangler
Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
http://www.last.fm/user/maxwax99/




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