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:2005-07-11
We have a very pro-OpenSource school board, all the way to the Superintendent. As such, one of the primary criteria for any software purchase is "will it run on FreeBSD or Debian?" If it won't, then we ask if it will run on RedHat? If not then we look around the marketplace to see if there are any alternatives that could be used instead. Finally, if there is nothing else that can be used, and it is absolutely critical that we have this software, then we'll look at getting a Windows server for it. So far, we have only two pieces of major critical infrastructure software running on Windows servers (our library software Follett Destiny, and our Heating maintenance software).
Without the top-down support, though, I could see it being difficult to use non-Windows or non-OpenSource (we're not so-called Free Software fanatics, and actually prefer BSD software) software. I hear horror stories from IT people in other districts where a teacher wants to use OSS to save money, and the school board going behind their backs to spend money they don't have on a Windows solution.
Granted, we also have a "build knowledge capacity inhouse" attitude, so we support all our own systems, only contracting out for hardware support. If we can't find the time to learn enough about a system to support it, we won't implement it. And we certainly won't buy something we can't support.
It's really a mindset thing ... and we have the people above us with the correct mindset. 
Member since:
2005-08-16
While it is great that you have the luxury that you can switch to FOSS, I can hardly imagine that the school where I currently work switches to linux/open-source. There are some 40 programs that come with educational methods, or that are used as resources in the education programme, that aren't offered by the publisher under linux. It really is a chicken/egg problem, and for publishers there is no compelling need to be flexible.