Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 10, 2007 05:40 PM
"or money spent on IT applications - I'm not sure which he meant"
Of course you realize that anybody can implement a whole Open Source office environment (from servers to desktops) without paying a dime for software. So, this ambiguity makes it a pretty meaningless or even manipulative statistic, doesn't it?
"There have to be costs of using open source, from the expertise required to compile and run it, to the expertise required to understand what patches to apply."
I do not understand you, do you WANT there to be costs? Nobody ever said that Open Source is the magic bullet to solve all your IT demands. If one could implement an office software environment without paying money AND investing some effort, well... _smile_.
"Sometimes the UI is weak,... in Open Source" (italics mine) Oh yes please, lets talk user interface, and lets have a look at the Ipswitch products. Now there's some early 90's GUI crap if you ever saw it. And now have a look at ftp implementation in de KDE desktop, 100% transparent file management with integrated password management. And the links to servers can be put in your Bookmarks. (yes, Ipswitch does have a problem, and they know it)
So, sure one can find poor interface design in Open Source, but it's not unique to Open Source, at all.
So, what else is there to say here? Well, last year Ipswitch retracted their free ftp-light client (years ago everybody used it). I suppose that the company is very conscious of the problems they're facing with Open Source, and i'm sure that they know their products are, well... unremarkable compared to some Open Source stuff i know. My guess is that the company got itself a new bullish Chief to counter their problems. You see this stuff a lot with those proprietary software companies.
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Re:Joe Barr rips proprietary software vendor...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 10, 2007 05:40 PMOf course you realize that anybody can implement a whole Open Source office environment (from servers to desktops) without paying a dime for software. So, this ambiguity makes it a pretty meaningless or even manipulative statistic, doesn't it?
"There have to be costs of using open source, from the expertise required to compile and run it, to the expertise required to understand what patches to apply."
I do not understand you, do you WANT there to be costs? Nobody ever said that Open Source is the magic bullet to solve all your IT demands. If one could implement an office software environment without paying money AND investing some effort, well... _smile_.
"Sometimes the UI is weak,... in Open Source" (italics mine) Oh yes please, lets talk user interface, and lets have a look at the Ipswitch products. Now there's some early 90's GUI crap if you ever saw it. And now have a look at ftp implementation in de KDE desktop, 100% transparent file management with integrated password management. And the links to servers can be put in your Bookmarks. (yes, Ipswitch does have a problem, and they know it)
So, sure one can find poor interface design in Open Source, but it's not unique to Open Source, at all.
So, what else is there to say here? Well, last year Ipswitch retracted their free ftp-light client (years ago everybody used it). I suppose that the company is very conscious of the problems they're facing with Open Source, and i'm sure that they know their products are, well... unremarkable compared to some Open Source stuff i know. My guess is that the company got itself a new bullish Chief to counter their problems. You see this stuff a lot with those proprietary software companies.
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