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Now imagine that the company you bought the software from no longer exists. You're correct about one of the issues with FLOSS adoption, but you're framing it wr

Now imagine that the company you bought the software from no longer exists. You're correct about one of the issues with FLOSS adoption, but you're framing it wrong: any software can have support issues. The biggest advantage of FLOSS that the government has written and shared is that they can get competitive bids for maintenance contracts, rather than being stuck with one vendor.

thehardsphere 9y ago
"They can get competitive bids instead of be stuck with a single vendor" can be translated as "they have to go through a complicated months long process to find a contractor instead of dial a 1-800 number and get the patch in two weeks."
- kspaans 9y ago
  They already had to go through the months-long process to get that 1-800 number in the first place (unless of course they "just choose IBM"). FLOSS doesn't short-ciruit that, it just shifts it to a different phase of procurement.