Lieutenant_Dan's Journal: The joys of Open Source

Have you ever seen the joy of a little boys face when you give him a new piece of Open Source software? No? Me, neither.

Maybe we (the Open Source developer community) are doing a terrible job PR-wise. In the place that I work, the IT department shuns anything that is Open Source. They say it's because it's amateurish, or not worth the risk. In a way I see their point. Who would want to risk their status/job by deploying a piece of software for which there may be no support for in a year's time? If a company has in-house developers, chances are that they are committed to other projects and you won't be able to use to deploy your Open Source solution.

It's time that we OSS developers make a commitment; release your piece of software and sell support! Tell 'em, if you pay me $1,000 it entitles you to 10 support calls/e-mails during the next three years. That will show them that you will be around for the next little while and if something happens, you will be around.

You have to understand that the corporate mistrusts anything that is free. Charge them for it and they will feel better. Sad but true.