On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 06:27:36PM -0200, Gabor Szabo wrote: > > I have not seen it mentioned here (maybe I wasn't looking ?) > > Open question > The government claims open-source software means a 60% saving. It doesn't > add up. > > Basically it sais that the TCO of Open Source is higher than that of > propriatery solutions
In the Israeli there are 2 aspects which are also present else where but might be more noticeable here: 1. Open Source means a switch from the more traditional way of thinking. 2. Hopefully it will divert money that is now spent outside of Israel, for whatever world wide giant, to many small local groups. Which is a good thing because that money is likely to circulate locally. It is true that those world wide giant have local branches. But trying to smoothly balanced the needs of every group in the population is one of the government duties. As such, due to its advantages, open source can not be completely ruled out. The real question should probably be what is the best balance. Conclusion: even if TCO is higher for OS, it is worth it. 3. Since software development does not require more then skilled man power, it seems natural for the state of Israel. I agree that this is a tough business because skilled man power can be also found else where. 4. I assume that the research was done out of Israel. Which is one more reason to ask for the raw data and the full calculation which lead the researchers to their end result. > and it because of the "forking problem" it is risky > to use OS. Forking also means that some one tries another way. Forking means that each head will merge good results out of the other head. Due to its open nature, forking also let the end user interfere in the end result. It also let other people to maintain the old code. > It sais that the Government of Israel should not move from MS an > other propriatery solutions to OS. > That seems to be going too far. A better conclusion would be the right balance between propriatery solutions and OS. As a side note, by reading this list I get the impression that Globes is pro MS. Am I right or is it that Globes gets to be mentioned here only when it writes pro MS articles? If Globes is indeed pro MS, does it also in general tend to the capital owners (BAALEY HAHON) opinions? -- "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." -- George Bernard Shaw (sent by shaulk @ actcom . net . il) ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]