[kwlug disc.] "people don't respect what they don't pay for"

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007, Randy Metcalfe wrote:
...
> I think there are two routes to counter-argument, while seeking to
> maintain your friendship (but it may be that these just are the
> standard responses you refer to).
>
> The first is to point out that your friend can definitely pay for
> his free and open source software in the form of a robust support
> contract, as for example with RHEL. In this example, there is
> essentially no difference on the budget line between the software
> being FOSS or proprietary.
>
> The second is a hypothetical that I find worth posing. Ask your
> friend what software he/she would choose, proprietary or FOSS, if
> faced with a choice between two functionally equivalent options. Of
> course this is a hypothetical because we rarely encounter these kind
> of Buridan's ass type cases. I think that in such a case I have a
> reason to choose the FOSS option. But if your friend thinks that in
> such a case he/she has a reason to choose the proprietary option,
> and that this reason is simply because it costs money, then I think
> it best to drop the discussion and talk about the Blue Jays instead.
> Or find a new friend.

well, that last suggestion isn't really an option. :-)  i just thought
it was worth considering that those of us who are steeped in the
history of open source know all the arguments for it right down to our
bones, and can rattle them off without even thinking.

but in cases like the above, there really may be times that those
arguments simply won't have any value.  if someone's corporate IT
environment involves lots of Windows and IIS and SQLServer and VSS,
and it's in their budget, and it works for them, how can you argue
against it?  maybe you just can't.  if someone's happy with what
they've got, there simply *is* no counter-argument.

rday
-- 
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

http://crashcourse.ca
========================================================================