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

[Oksana Goertzen]

On 9/20/07, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>
>   the above is something a good friend of mine said to me recently
> when we were discussing open source versus proprietary.  we weren't
> having a deep, philosophical discussion, i had just made a throwaway
> statement that i like the idea of working with open source and
> freely-available software as opposed to the opposite, which is when
> that statement came out.
>
>   to be fair, this friend works for a large software concern whose
> entire business model is founded on (no surprise) selling
> closed-source software, so what else would you expect to hear?  it's
> possible he really didn't mean it, he was just parroting the defensive
> and territorial party line.
>
>   but what if he *did* mean it?  how do you respond to something like
> that?  and, yes, we all know the standard responses we've heard for
> years, so let's not go *there*.
>
>   i'm more curious as to what you'd say if this was a good friend of
> yours who, out of the blue, made that rather astonishing claim.  it
> wouldn't do any good to speak of the value of linux, or apache, or
> openoffice, if said person had never used any of them, and was
> perfectly happy in a microsoft-centric environment.  if that's the
> case, i'm not sure *what* kind of response you could make.
>
>   i'm just curious -- what have others done in this situation?  and
> keep in mind, this is a friend that you want to *keep* as a friend,
> but whose entire livelihood exists because of a closed-source
> software business model.  *is* there a counter-argument?
>
> rday
> --
> ========================================================================
> Robert P. J. Day
> Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
> Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
>
> http://crashcourse.ca
> ============================================================


If this is a good friend then I would look at it as an excellent opportunity
to illustrate everything you believe is wonderful about open source.  When I
was at University and I was experiencing frustration with a person who
didn't understand a particular issue in the same manner as I had come to
grasp, a professor I had said to me, take it as a opportunity for education
- an opening to discuss what you're passionate about.  So, it's actually a
great chance to build on your friendship with this person.  :)

So, in this vein - I would illustrate what I find compelling about open
source (and your list is probably much more robust than mine):

(1)  You know what's in the code - you can fix or modify it yourself or hire
someone to do so.
(2)  You're not tied into one vendor for support and bug fixes - you can
shop around for better support.
(3)  You're improving a product or service by using it and updating it - so
everyone benefits.
(4)  There are obvious security enhancements to running something where you
know what's in the code, where many people are looking over the code and
actively supporting it and using it., plus you can harden the solution if
you wish.
(5)  If the code doesn't do exactly what you want - you are free to modify
it so that it does.
(6)  There is a synergy and a culture that develops around code when it's
freely distributed and people get recognition for the work they do and this
can't be duplicated in a closed, proprietary environment where you have only
a few people (or even hundreds) working on a project.
(7)  You can migrate from one solution to another because you have access to
the code and data - you don't have to wait for the vendor
to create a solution to facilitate this... i.e.  your data doesn't have to
be in a proprietary format if you don't want it to be.
(8)  You can create single purpose servers or appliances that do only what
you want them to do and nothing more.
(9)  Shell scripting allows you to script anything ..

and so on...

And lastly I would let them play with Linux - loan them a laptop to show
them how cool, capable, robust, fun and sleek Linux really is!

:)  Good Luck!

Oksana
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