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

[Jon 'maddog' Hall]

>How does one innovate if one has to do *everything* in a standard
>fashion?

Exactly!  And now you have touched on another sore spot I have with
today's management....they do not see IT as a "strategic resource".

Some managers treat IT today as if it is a commodity, something that
"has to happen" instead of what IT used to be....the way to get ahead of
your competitor.

If everyone uses the same software in exactly the same way, then it is a
commodity...but how to you get ahead of your competitor that way?

Most people who do use software in innovative ways do not talk about
what they do, since they consider it a competitive advantage.  This
actually has been a stumbling block of "Free Software" for some
companies, since to meet some license requirements they feel they have
to give away their competitive advantage.

One of the things we have to do is get them to understand were
"coopetition" works, and how to partition what they get from Free
Software versus what they give back.

md