Slashdot | Danese Cooper (of Sun) Finally Answers
If I were trying to convince my IT boss to adopt an Open Source technology I would be looking at the total cost to use it (i.e. Is it easier to use,learn or manage? Is the cost differential big enough to justify whatever risk? Is real support available?) in addition to evaluations based on feature set. In the area of control I would focus on the flexibility that comes from having Open Source rights to the code. No longer are you at the mercy of vendors who may or may not class your issues as high priority. I would point out the national governments and NGOs who are chosing to mandate use of Free and Open software as evidence that Open Source has entered the governmental mainstream. However, its important to recognize that the mass migration to liberated infrastructure software will be evolutionary because a revolution would be too disruptive to Business.
More food for thought on Open Source as the responsible, businesslike approach to IT infrastructure and implementation.
Of course, embracing Open Source is only a good move if you have people who can leverage it. A bunch of click-and-drool monkeys whose idea of troubleshooting is to format and reinstall won’t get much out of the experience.