On Tuesday 25 November 2003 08:01, Sachin Nair wrote:
While free software might make business sense, the idea propagated by opensource.org IMHO is not really likely to succeed.
Does China make a lot of business sense? or IBM, or HP or Trolltech.
FSF is not a bussiness nor are opensource coders interested in the success or failure of your business. It is your job to utilise and contribute to the resources of freesoftware and make your bussiness a success doing so. If you do not have the mental horse power to understand the complexities of freesoftware (or software for that matter) stick to closed source (while it lasts).
How many people can make money by releasing the source code?
Quite a lot. Me and my organisation for one. A guy named Linus Torvalds. Another named Donald Becker and lots of others. Read the names of contributors writing hundreds of GNU packages.
Software develops faster, true!, software also develops better, true! But does it make business sense?
What are you planning a "Nigerian" vapour ware scam. If the above reasons do not make sense I wonder what does.
I've heard about companies cutting costs using opensource, I know it can be done. But for a software house to succeed by opening it's own source? :/. Why would any other business house want to ask the parent company for support when they can have 2 software geeks inhouse to provide support for the project on their own? Where does this leave the software house?
google for TCO for linux and you will know why.
Redhat began the fedora project in the hope that worldwide developers will have a hand for it to succeed. But what percentage of coders whom you know, work for pleasure while they need to put food on the table?
I don't intend to start any holy war which has been fought
A bit late for starting a war which ended sometime ago ;-).