[FOSS] How does one respond to this line of questioning?

[Joseph Smith]

On 04/08/2011 09:02 AM, Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote:
>> Why do many large organizations tend to resist FOSS?  Discuss.
>
> FUD...utilizing the true definition....of the unknown.
>
> Even today there are lots of people in IT management who started after
> the beginning of Microsoft and Apple....and other "systems" companies
> who utilized closed source.  "Buying a solution" is all they know.
>
> Many in IT management today do not remember, or never experienced, the
> crafting of a solution by working with a consultant and stating what the
> company's goals are, then having the consultant create a contract and
> deliver a product that is supportable.   The "solution" for many large
> customers is "SAP" or "PeopleSoft" or "SalesForce" and is now becoming
> "The Cloud".  They change the way they do work to fit the product, not
> the other way around.
>
> Another example:
>
> The concept of sending an employee or two to attend a week or two of
> education is fast going the way of the dodo.
>
> In "the old days" the justification for training was to make the use of
> the 2.5 million dollar mainframe 10% better.  ROI was about 250,000.
>
> Today you don't train the person to use the computer better, you simply
> wait a week and buy a faster CPU.  Management sees that as "cheaper".
> They do not see the long term investment in the employee.
>
> I know that I am using "globalisms" here and there will be lots of
> people that may not agree with me, but large companies' management
> strains to understand the latest buzzwords created by marketing people
> and never understands what it is like to really generate a solution.
>
> Just think about the issue of having to create the phrase "Open Source"
> because too many people in large corporations could not understand the
> term "Free(DOM) Software".
>
No you hit the nail on the head. This is so the reality of the IT world 
of Corporate America. Well done maddog.

-- 
Thanks,
Joseph Smith
Set-Top-Linux
www.settoplinux.org