Chuck wrote:
My point is that OSS will never be more than a small niche compared to
commercial software. Most people believe that a program's quality is
proportional to it's price. In their minds, free = piece of crap,
expensive equals great software with great support. I'm not saying this
is true, but it's what most people think. People for some strange
reason *want* to pay for software when equal or superior software is
available for free.
OSS has been available for years to fill many needs and yet it never
garners more than 1-2% of the market. Firefox, Thunderbird, OOo, Linux,
and others are perfect examples. They are all superior to their
commercial counterparts but are no where near replacing them in the market.
Alex wrote:
I will disagree. I think you will see a major shift in the EU to OSS
or other packages as standards are enforced. From the discussion
about MS XML format not being compatible with OASIS and MS not
supporting OASIS may force many organizations to move to an
alternative that supports OASIS. Guess what, at present the only deal
is OSS.
Also, as people get exposure to OOo as an example, they start using it
more. Especially when they know they don't' have to pay and they
don't have to worry about being found out.
A group that I am involved with is going to be handing out CDs and I
plan on including OOo on the CD (space permitting). This will
increase exposure.
MS offers Office at a low cost to schools and students to get them
exposed. The problem is MS then does audits which end up costing lots
of money. As students are exposed, they don't know any better. MS
loves the ability to bundle. How many people have never heard of or
even considered using Firefox or Mozilla. They use what is there.
If OSS can save the person at home that $100 for the software, then
they will use it more. I know people that have tried OOo and been
very happy. No need to find a copy or purchase MS Office.
--
Robin Laing
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