[ale] open source wars at DOD

[Jerry Z. Yu]

	response to support calls depends on how much $$$ you pay for that 
support, not depends on the code being closed-source or not.  Many 
support vendors (could be different from the software/app vendors) charge premium for 
speedier support (does this ring a bell: platium, gold, silver service 
contract). If you pay for that dedicated customer support guy, you might 
as well pay for a in-house software/systems engineer to master the code, 
if that piece of code is so critical to your business... 
	If answers to your support request is delayed (or never) or 
speedy but not to your satisfaction, you don't have a thing to go on with 
closed-source vendor besides draging them to court. With open-source, you 
can at least hire a 3rd-party consultant to look into the code for you, if 
you don't want to pick up books like java-in-24-hours...
	With open-source, you have the option to choose any 3rd-party 
support, and do it your own if you have to. with closed-source, you may 
just have to that closed-source vendor or its closed-source partners...

On Fri, 24 May 2002, Pete Hardie wrote:

#Joseph A Knapka wrote:
#> All this recent hoopla about security in open source, integrity
#> of public data, etc. has got me asking myself the question: Is
#> there *ever* any advantage to closed-source software, for anyone
#> besided the vendor? I can't see one, myself. It is self-evidently
#> in the buyer's best interest to insist on open-source solutions;
#> only the gigantic dead weight of M$'s marketing machine obscures
#> this fact in practice. Eventually open-source will prevail in
#> a free marketplace.
#
#I'd say that closed-source from a typical vendor is faster to respond
#to specific customer requests than an open-source project, since the
#money paid for the program can fund a dedicated customer support group
#that is acutely aware that failing to respond to customers will result
#in the loss of their jobs; typical open-source projects are not as
#responsive because there is no immediate negative feedback for slow
#fixes.
#
#
#
#-- 
#Pete Hardie                   |   Goalie, DVSG Dart Team
#    posting from, but not     |
#	speaking for:             |
#Scientific Atlanta, Digital Video Services Group
#
#
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Jerry Z. Yu					+1-404-487-8544 (O)
systems engineer				z.yu at voicecom.com
is support, voicecom, llc			www.voicecom.com


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