> > On Thursday 01 January 2004 21:01, Shlomi Fish wrote: > > > Now, some arguments were made that because a business gets a software > > > for free, he will expect the hackers who have to make it work, to work > > > very cheaply as well. > > > > Let me give an example from another field. > > (snipped example about law practice)
I think Nadav's example is a great analogy. Let me throw in my 2 cents as well. I believe most businesses know open source software isn't free (as in beer), there is always a cost. However, if the cost is cheaper than closed-source software (for any reason), they will opt to use it. Therefore, as long as the OS programmers don't charge so much as to make it more expensive than the alternative, it still makes business sense to use OS programs. For example, if I am Honda, and my options are using WinCE or Linux for my car computer, I assume I will save a lot by not paying per-seat license for the software. Assume a WinCE license costs Honda $1, and Honda makes 1M computer-enabled cars a year, if the additional work required for migrating to Linux is less than $1M, than it makes business sense to migrate. I don't think Izik Cohen has suddenly become an FOSS fanatic. Also, I *know* he doesn't think open office comes with no cost. However, he made the calculation and came to the conclusion that with the current Windows+Office prices, the Ministry is better off developing an alternative. The same goes for Japanese car manufacturers, etc, etc. - Aviram ================================================================= 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]
