Flutterby™! : Open Source: Not about TCO

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Open Source: Not about TCO

2005-02-10 17:13:18.149031+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

A thread over on the Chugalug mailing list got me to write something that's been bobbling about in my head for a while: Open Source: Not about TCO.

[ related topics: Free Software Economics ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2005-02-10 20:38:42.404372+00 by: meuon

It's never been about TCO.. It's been about control, choice, options.. as well as reliability.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-02-11 16:30:28.395578+00 by: ebradway

One thing I've encountered, that gets overlooked, is the TCO when the producer stops supporting your mission critical system. There are alot of phone systems that still run on OS/2 but IBM doesn't really care. I'm trying to get a PC to emulate a 68K Mac and can't get the older versions of some software programs (like a version of Stuffit for MacOS 8.1).

OpenSource gives people a possible avenue. If you have the source you have a better chance of either making things continue to work or porting your legacy systems to newer platforms.