-----Original Message----- From: quasar@vsnl.net To: linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in
vinayak@myrealbox.com wrote
Also you will agree that being not being tied to a single s/w vendor also makes sound business sense. So that you are not at the nercy to the whims and fancies of that particular vendor
It makes good sense only sometimes. Consider this example: I am a company developing some solution for a specialised domain. I choose some OS and a commercial tool for the development from company X. I also buy the support package offered by that X. Well, during the development process we face many problems which are promptly dealt with by the support team at X. They also patch the product for a few of our specific needs. I find it a well worth investment for buying the tool from X.
Replace X with Xanalys. The 'tool' was Lispworks. The guy who posted the above at c.l.l was Dave Bakhash and he was extremely satisfied with Lispworks and Xanalys. It helped him complete his (telephony product I think) ahead of schedule.
The point is Commercial Proprietary Software per say is not evil.
The Free Software Movement come from a Utopian spirit exibhited by some people. There is no need for one side to be evil for the other side to be 'good'.
-------------------- You have missed the point. The point here is not good vs evil but about what one would prefer as businessman The example that you have given is not that common Anyways you don't get patches and updates within minutes/hours by any vendor. If they do they are very rare But this is common in the free software world as others on this group will testify.
Although i agree,it is sometimes criminal to generalise I can take this liberty in this regard here as the evidence in favour of free software (in terms of support such as this mailing list) is overwhelmingly lopsided.
--> Vinayak Hegde