Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 8th Nov 2006 19:59 UTC, submitted by Coxy
The theory behind open-source software is that it avoids many of the pitfalls - including cost - of closed alternatives. But Steven Buckley, who runs Christian Aid's common knowledge programme, prefers to buy software from the likes of Microsoft. Is this not odd for a charity? "Open-source doesn't mean free," he told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme. "Quite often, if you install open-source software within an organisation, you have a support contract that goes with it - it's an essential part of operating that software. Over time, that can actually cost more than having Windows on an enterprise machine."
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Member since:
2006-07-13
IBM will sell you a support contract for Windows, Red Hat, or SuSE. You can find local companies that will support these products as will. When you pay Lots of money to MS for their products - that only includes the most basic of support. I know - I have had to get support for MS products in some cases only weeks old and had to pay for it because it was not an install problem. So paying that large sum up front does not guarantee any prepaid support down the road.
It costs about $200.00 to have a local Linux support person come in and install cent OS Linux on a server and set it up. It costs about $200.00 to have the local Windows guru to install Windows 2003 plus the cost of the Windows license. In that I will be going back to these people for most of my support - I see no reason in either case to pay some major national firm to supply support for my systems and once set up I will make fewer support request call for Linux on a ratio of about one Linux request for every three Windows request - one must wonder why you must have a contract with a large national firm why not just pay as you go, it will cost you far less in the long run.
What is missed in this article is that 1. Buying stuff form Microsoft does not include any fix full support period - yet the Red Hat price is in fact a full support package. 2. Purchasing a full support package from a national support firm - is always expensive. 3. If cost is so important - get Open SuSE or Cent OS and purchase only the help you need when you need it - be prepared to do all the simple stuff yourself and you will have good reliable systems and spend a lot less doing it. 4. If you want the full paid support – then don't complain that it cost money and be sure that what you are comparing apples to apples when comparing the cost of a full service contract to something else.
Now don't even get me started on copier service contracts.