Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on May 02, 2003 03:50 AM
Most of these arguments have nothing to do with open source, but instead relate to software pricing. Open source is not necessarily free, for example MySQL, JBoss, and eZ systems all charge depending on a commercial organization's usage of their software. Low cost competitors such as Caucho's Resin is often cheaper than a comparative JBoss installation for a J2EE server. The arguments in this article would support purchasing Resin over JBoss, even though it is not open source.
Open source is a competitor to commercial software, and it is expected in free market economics for a supplier to disuade the buyer from selecting or considering a competitor.
Open source is a real driver for change in this industry, and economic theory dictates that software revenue will increase as open source is more widely adopted. Per economic theory, open source is not a replacement but typically a complementary purchase.
For example, Oracle runs on linux. This is a crude analysis, but because a buyer does not have to purchase an operating system license, the buyer could use the same budget to purchase more Oracle software. The buyer receives more value for that same dollar, thereby (in economic theory terms) leading to the buyer purchasing more Oracle software. In the end, the amount of money that buyer spent on software has increased.
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Pricing not open source
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on May 02, 2003 03:50 AMOpen source is a competitor to commercial software, and it is expected in free market economics for a supplier to disuade the buyer from selecting or considering a competitor.
Open source is a real driver for change in this industry, and economic theory dictates that software revenue will increase as open source is more widely adopted. Per economic theory, open source is not a replacement but typically a complementary purchase.
For example, Oracle runs on linux. This is a crude analysis, but because a buyer does not have to purchase an operating system license, the buyer could use the same budget to purchase more Oracle software. The buyer receives more value for that same dollar, thereby (in economic theory terms) leading to the buyer purchasing more Oracle software. In the end, the amount of money that buyer spent on software has increased.
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