At 11:54 AM 14/07/2005, Ben Ruset wrote:
Okay, so you pay for the software from MS *and* get support for a period
of time. With Linux you're not paying for software and then have to find
some 3rd party vendor.
That's how I understand it, yes. (It is also my understanding that at some
point, you pay for MS support.)
I don't think anybody will disagree that it's easier to admin a Windows
server than a Linux server.
Can't comment on that. It is easier to admin a Netware server than a
Windows server.
Yeah, but how long will that take? If it takes you 5 years to develop a
program on your own when a funded company could have it done in 5 weeks,
how does that help computing in general? And competition is not "take my
product and modify it" it's usually "lets create a product of our own that
does X but also does Y."
Except that once a program is released as FOSS, there could end up being
many more people working on the program than in a funded company. At
least, that's what I read. I've never worked in either, so I can't say
from personal experience.
I wonder how many Samba implementations have paid support. Or how many
mySQL loads are supported by mySQL the company, vs the number of free
installs out there. There's a lot of people using a lot of software
without paying a dime. Why spend a ton of money to develop software when
the vast number of users will end up taking your ideas for free.
Sort of like pirated Windows, I guess. :)
T
