[SGVLUG] Open Source products competitiveness/appeal

[Joel Witherspoon]

* WHY would someone pick a non open source product?

*The blame factor plays a large part in choosing enterprise level software.
If something goes wrong, I can blame M$ and possibly recoup losses. With
OSS, that may not be the case. *
*
On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 7:12 PM, matti <mathew_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> > > ... It occurred to me that they might continue to do
> > SQL Server
> > > giveaways until they actually ship the product.
> >
> > How can the availability of an open source SQL Server be
> > accelerated
> > so these MS inducements to relapse lose their appeal?
>
> that leads to some good questions.
>
> WHY would someone pick a non open source product?
>
> Honestly, I believe much of this is marketing/fud,
> applications, and real/or perceived easy of use/deploy.
>
> The reasons I have seen people pick MS SQL often
> has to do with an application which uses/needs it,
> or the perception by the business owner that it
> will be "cheaper" to run Microsoft based solutions.
>
> To counter this, open source needs more developers
> and others to make open source products better
> and easier to use, AND there needs to be marketing/pr
> to sell such solutions to businesses.
>
> Also, there needs to be an ability in various
> Open Source projects to have development herded
> in particular directions which the customers would
> want. (Easier for MS to do this, as they have the
> manpower, organization, and cash... )
>
> To attract developers: tools which make their job
> easier are very useful. (i.e. Open Source tools,
> and tutorials to use those tools need to be
> competitive and available.)
>
> and, the chicken/egg issue.. a large installed
> base of linux/open source system on which to
> install the applications.
>
> MS has the resources and willingness to actively
> attract developers and produce good tools for them.
>
> Anyone wishing to counter them should be looking to
> encourage those in high school and college to develop
> on open source platforms. (which IS how linux came to
> be.. thanks to GNU gcc.. )
>
> that stated, Open Source has done very well with
> it's various success stories, and does have a large
> number of companies behind various open source
> projects. (google is one example.. such as supporting
> Python and having it used in Google AppEngine.. )
>
> well, I'm ranting too much.. and not learning to
> use tools enough ;)
>
> cheers
> matti
>
>
>
>
>
>
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