[SGVLUG] Open Source products competitiveness/appeal

[Miguel Hernandez]

*WHY would someone pick a non open source product?
or the perception by the business owner that it
will be "cheaper" to run Microsoft based solutions.

*I've always felt that it's a simple ROI issue. Even if a company feels they
can save in the long run, in the short run, it involves having to train
their entire organization on the new open source software AND spend money to
(potentially) hire an entire new IT staff. From a business perspective,
that's a HUGE investment so most folks play it "safe" & stick with bloated,
buggy software that's super expensive to maintain. Oh, & don't even get me
started on IT Directors who don't do what's in the best interest of their
company, if it means switching to open source, not only due to the ROI i
mentioned above but also because they need to keep their jobs secure (saving
your company tens of thousands of dollars would look great on a resume, but
they'd have to USE that resume soon after since, chances are, they're locked
into one vendor themselves & know nothing else).

*Anyone wishing to counter them should be looking to
encourage those in high school and college to develop
on open source platforms.*

I'd take it a step further, Matti. I believe that you have to start with the
kids at the earliest age. Kids don't know the difference between open source
vs. proprietary behemoths. Expose them to open source early on & let them
decide as they grow up. I'd bet that if Generation Z kids grew up on open
source software (& liked it), that once they were out of school &
contributing members of society, they'd look at closed source software with
disdain. Let the kids decide, they're WAY smarter than we give 'em credit
for. I say that from personal experience of exposing kids to simple open
source products like Edubuntu. Countless times have I gotten calls from
friends & they put their child on the line who's basically crying 'cuz they
lost or broke their live cd & ask me if I can give 'em another. It's amazing
to me but I don't think I'm special amongst folks who consider themselves
open source "evangelists" (like, probably, everyone else on this list).

Sorry for the wall of text, it's just something I'm really passionate about.
:)
--miguel
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