 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Overview |
 |
The cost of business software, the costs resulting from malfunctioning software, and the opportunity costs incurred by not using software can be very significant. So software should be procured and managed like any other good or asset: cautiously. Yet, "commercial" software cannot be procured from multiple sources. It cannot be insured. The TCO, performance and interoperability of software cannot be determined until long after it has been purchased. It cannot be returned, exchanged, inspected, fixed, sold or even discarded (this would involve an admission of failure). Wrongdoing is hard to prove, so vendors cannot be sued. Buyers are locked-in and coerced into purchasing more products from their vendor and into using "integrated solutions" that do not allow further integration.
Proprietary lock-in is everywhere (API, file formats...). It is at the heart of the vendor business model. Innovation is stifled and biased. Flexibility is lost for the purchasing company. This does not happen with Open-Source software as it can easily be tried and modified and is highly interoperable and interchangeable. With Open-Source, software is an asset, not a liability. [back]
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||