On 01/23/2011 10:46 AM, tosmaillist.neophyte_...@ordinaryamerican.net wrote: > The Comingled Code: Open Source and Economic Development. > By Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman. MIT Press > http://www.economist.com/node/17899970?story_id=17899970&CFID=160220568&CFTOKEN=93405755 > > From the review: > "Yet the finding that open-source advocates will like least is that > free programs are not always cheaper." > > _______________________________________________ > tos mailing list > tos@teachingopensource.org > http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos > The unfortunate implication of the quotation above is, when using open source, one must pay for learning how to integrate the software into the business; and, though it isn't stated, the opposite is also implied: using proprietary software does not require a cost to integrate into the business.
Training and developing the strategy to integrate ANY software is going to cost money. I found the more troubling conclusion was: "It would be wrong, they say, to see the two types of software as substitutes for another or as interchangeable." Pulling out program X and inserting program Y will always cause disruption. No two pieces of software are perfect matches in that sense. So what? Pulling out Word Perfect and putting in Microsoft Word caused disruption. It certainly isn't a factor of open vs. proprietary. The review isn't the original book (which I have not read). Reviews are frequently as much a subjective response as they are objective. The review was in The Economist and the book was by economists. That seems more important than anything else. Free/Open Source is increasingly important in economic terms. It isn't just somebody's hobby. The reality is that FOSS is the infrastructure software of the Internet and is becoming the software of the mobile world. That is economically significant, and just because FOSS doesn't mean "free of all costs" isn't that important. This mailing list is based on the recognized need to have more developers ready to participate in FOSS projects and the community process. It may already be an economically important issue. Outsourcing, anyone? Stand up and be proud you are part of it. Earn the money of your day job. Keep pushing FOSS, any way you can. --Algot -- ------------------------- Algot Runeman 47 Walnut Street, Natick MA 01760 508-655-8399 algot.rune...@verizon.net Web Site: http://www.runeman.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/algotruneman/ Open Source Blog: http://mosssig.wordpress.com MOSS SIG Mailing List: http://groups.google.com/group/mosssig2 _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
