[gnhlug-jobs] [NH Jobs List] Job: Network/Database Administrator - Manchester

[Paul Lussier]

Lori Nagel <jastiv at yahoo.com> writes:

>   Free software is for everyone, not just nerds and geeks.  If
>   someone can use Word, they can use free replacements such as
>   OpenOffice.org.  For companies, it does not make sense to spend
>   money on proprietary software, especially when free replacements
>   are already available.

This is your particular opinion.  However, many people use computers
to get a job done, and they have spent 15 or 20 *years* learning a
particular environment.  It makes even *less* sense for them to throw
out that 15 or 20 years of experience using specific applications and
environments just because they may save a $100 or $200 dollars by
switching to a different application.

The *business* decision to use a piece of software is a financial
assessment of the time and money it will take to get something done
one way vs. another.  If it will take someone 4 times longer to do
something, but not pay for the application, or get it done but pay a
few hundred dollars, it may make the most sense to pay the few hundred
dollars.

Just because there are "free replacements are already available" does
not mean they are equal to what is already known and ingrained.

Linux and the BSD can implement routing protocols with the likes of
Cisco and Nortel, they can run BGP, and do as many or more things than
a Cisco or Nortel router.  How many Fortune 10,000 companies do you
think are implementing Free/Open source routers vs. proprietary,
despite the fact that "free replacements are already available."

Time and training costs a LOT.  And remember, it is Free, not because
it is without a financial cost, but because it implies a *Freedom* to
choose.  They have made their choice, it is not our call to question
how they excercise *their* freedom of choice.

You don't have like it, agree with it, or condone it.  But you do have
to accept that it is *their* choice, and being snarky towards them is
certainly not going to win them over to the "more enlightened" side.
-- 
Seeya,
Paul