Linked by Howard Fosdick on Mon 13th Dec 2010 23:11 UTC
It's hard to predict the future because we humans prefer to think in terms of familiar paradigms. Even the most brilliant of our species are subject to this flaw. Now, Microsoft faces its turn. The owner of the operating system that likely runs your personal computer, the company that achieved monopoly with Windows and ducked the Department of Justice's scythe to keep it, faces a midlife crisis as the world goes gaga over portable consumer devices. This is the story of what's happening to Microsoft in the handheld operating system markets -- and how it parallels the earlier, similar journeys of IBM Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation. Can Microsoft achieve dominance on mobile devices?
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RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by lucas_maximus on Tue 14th Dec 2010 11:41
in reply to "RE[2]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2009-08-18
The problem is finding support contracts for Alfresco.
We looked at using Alfresco and/or Umbraco and we couldn't find many companies to provide support. When asked about bug fixes, they said they would have to wait for upstream ... which obviously wasn't acceptable. Also Umbraco (especially) has very little functionality without any 3rd party components. The problem is that we won't be able to support for these 3rd party components.
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
However there were plenty of companies which supported sharepoint, and there was more functionality out of the box.
Edited 2010-12-14 11:42 UTC
RE[4]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by oiaohm on Tue 14th Dec 2010 12:11
in reply to "RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2009-05-30
The problem is finding support contracts for Alfresco.
We looked at using Alfresco and/or Umbraco and we couldn't find many companies to provide support. When asked about bug fixes, they said they would have to wait for upstream ... which obviously wasn't acceptable. Also Umbraco (especially) has very little functionality without any 3rd party components. The problem is that we won't be able to support for these 3rd party components.
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
However there were plenty of companies which supported sharepoint, and there was more functionality out of the box.
We looked at using Alfresco and/or Umbraco and we couldn't find many companies to provide support. When asked about bug fixes, they said they would have to wait for upstream ... which obviously wasn't acceptable. Also Umbraco (especially) has very little functionality without any 3rd party components. The problem is that we won't be able to support for these 3rd party components.
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
However there were plenty of companies which supported sharepoint, and there was more functionality out of the box.
There is a difference here in the way the two worlds operation. Yes I can understand why its hard to get at first when you don't compare fairly.
http://www.alfresco.com/services/subscription/ Alfresco sells support directly with even requirements for rapid responce..
Now can you buy support for Microsoft Sharepoint from Microsoft answer no you cannot. So you must use third parties.
RedHat also provides global support contracts that cover Alfresco. Both Redhat and Alfresco will do patches on Alfresco without waiting for upstream merging if it will address client issues.
Redhat is a support specialist also the Redhat path integrates in JBoss as well http://www.jboss.org/.
umbraco support is basically nothing so I can understand you not touching that.
Now please be truthful. Who is going to be able to fix up Sharepoint bugs for you and not have to wait for upstream to fix. Answer no one.
So please explain why this is a problem.
When asked about bug fixes, they said they would have to wait for upstream ... which obviously wasn't
Since this is exactly what you have to put up with using sharepoint. So comparing equally Sharepoint is not suitable for your business either.
List of what Sharepoint lacks compare to Alfresco.
1)There is no direct support contract option. So requiring rapid response to software issues. Yes you can pay Alfresco for 24 hour support and bug fixes ASP.
2)There is no option to higher your own coders if a problem is 100 percent critical to be fix ASP.
3)There is no options to use specialists like Redhat to provide 24 hour coder assistance.
So what is your problem.
RE[4]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by lemur2 on Tue 14th Dec 2010 12:18
in reply to "RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2007-02-17
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
This is an interesting claim. What aspect of the GPL could possibly be bad for your business in any way, compared to what proprietary rentware such as Sharepoint is guaranteed to cost you?
If you are not a software company yourself ... then your company's use of any GPL software is completely free and unencumbered. Run it as much as you want for as many users on as many machines as you like. Fill your boots.
If your company does write and distribute software as its core business ... then simply write your own software. Don't ship GPL code to your customers. Once again your company's use of any GPL software is completely free and unencumbered. Fill your boots.
You are going to have to explain what on earth you think it is about the GPL that could possibly be bad for your company. Without such an explanation, your claim makes absolutely no sense at all.
Edited 2010-12-14 12:20 UTC
RE[4]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by sorpigal on Tue 14th Dec 2010 13:30
in reply to "RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2005-11-02
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
Who cares what redistribution license is used for internal stuff like this? Since you never redistribute the code to anyone the GPL is simply irrelevant.
Edited 2010-12-14 13:31 UTC
RE[4]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by JAlexoid on Tue 14th Dec 2010 14:05
in reply to "RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2009-05-19
Also there is the problem with licenses. A lot of components had licenses which aren't acceptable for our business. GPL is not an acceptable license for our business.
If you are a user of the product, you have nothing to worry about when dealing with GPL. Even if you might want to sell the whole product to someone else.
RE[4]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - GPL not acceptable
by jabbotts on Tue 14th Dec 2010 16:39
in reply to "RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2007-09-06
RE[3]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway...
by sorpigal on Tue 14th Dec 2010 13:28
in reply to "RE[2]: Don't Count Microsoft Out - Not Yet, Anyway..."
Member since:2005-11-02
News
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 11:32 UTC
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Member since:
2007-02-17
At the entry level, sharepoint is free, but it doesn't take long before it attracts rent (via CALs).
There are a number of very decent alternatives that do not attract rent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfresco_%28software%29
One can save a fortune by not using sharepoint (even if one does use Windows).
Edited 2010-12-14 09:41 UTC