Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Fri 1st Oct 2004 00:16 UTC
A senior IT executive at a major pharmaceutical company summed up the challenge for Linux at the ZDNet UK IT Priorities conference when he asked one simple question: what are the benefits in migrating from Microsoft to Linux at the desktop?
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"Who guarantees that you can access your information from a proprietary file format five years down the road? Open standards relieve you of that pain. I use an open-standard file format so that I can keep the keys to my information," said Schlaeger.
"Not only is this a flawed argument (if you're using Joe's Open Source app and he gets bored developing it and quits in a few months, what are you supposed to do with your data), it's really not a case for Linux, so open file formats DO exist for other opearing systems as well."
It is not a flawed argument. Not all proprietory software sticks to open standards because you can't lock people in that way.
If you are using something proprietory, and they go bust - where do you go?
If Joe gets bored developing his open source app, at least you have access to the source code to continue with it. Most open source software I've seen and used usually uses open standards so the data can be imported easily.