6 ms·

All of those enumerated costs apply equally to proprietary software as well.

by justinjlynn 9y ago

godzillabrennus 9y ago
There is a reason Microsoft practically gives away their software to schools. They have an amazing ecosystem.
- justinjlynn 9y ago
  Well, they certainly have a number of products, but I fail to see how their giving away licences has anything to do with reducing those ongoing operational costs? Not only that then, "first one's free" certainly applies: I would hate to see the renewal costs they charge!
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    > I fail to see how their giving away licences has anything to do with reducing those ongoing operational costs? Not only that then, "first one's free" certainly applies: I would hate to see the renewal costs they charge! Your parent comment is referring to the following model: 1. Microsoft provides free or nearly-free licenses to schools. They don't charge the schools for software now, and they won't charge the schools for software later, because that would defeat the purpose of giving the software away. Renewal fees are not an issue anyone sane would worry about. 2. Incoming government workers already know how to use Microsoft software, because that's what they used at school. They complain if they're supposed to use something else.
    - justinjlynn 9y ago
      > Renewal fees are not an issue anyone sane would worry about Right. The presence of that threat is enough to discourage looking for alternatives. "we hear you've been looking into Linux and teaching Python instead of C#/.Net next year... sure would be a shame..."
      - thaumasiotes 9y ago
        You seem to be confusing the software the school uses internally with the software it makes available to students.
        justinjlynn 9y ago
        I'm not confusing anything.
notatoad 9y ago
they apply to proprietary software. they most certainly do not apply equally. it's a lot easier (and therefore cheaper) to find staff to support windows than it is to find staff to support linux.
- justinjlynn 9y ago
  I would certainly be interested in some concrete numbers.
sokoloff 9y ago
For market dominating software, those costs can be reduced by sites like stackoverflow, youtube, and blog posts/samples. Try searching for how to perform an arbitrary function in Word or Excel. Hundreds of hits, and probably 25% will solve your problem. Try the same search for Google Sheets or OpenOffice. Crickets was always my experience.
- justinjlynn 9y ago
  Of course, but do notice that with open source software, if one has the motivation, it's all right there in black and white code. Doesn't work for you? change it. Don't know what's going on? It's because you haven't looked - you're not prevented from doing anything. That's assuming you can't get in touch with the person who wrote it. Which you probably could quite easily do.
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    Yes; I've sent patches to open source projects before. When I'm in "accomplish a task using a spreadsheet" or "write a document/prepare a presentation" mode, I'm probably not going to be inclined (nor have time) to go rathole on changing the source to the office application, recompiling, testing, doing my original task, and submitting a patch.

All of those enumerated costs apply equally to proprietary software as well.

godzillabrennus 9y ago

There is a reason Microsoft practically gives away their software to schools. They have an amazing ecosystem.

justinjlynn 9y ago
Well, they certainly have a number of products, but I fail to see how their giving away licences has anything to do with reducing those ongoing operational costs? Not only that then, "first one's free" certainly applies: I would hate to see the renewal costs they charge!
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  > I fail to see how their giving away licences has anything to do with reducing those ongoing operational costs? Not only that then, "first one's free" certainly applies: I would hate to see the renewal costs they charge! Your parent comment is referring to the following model: 1. Microsoft provides free or nearly-free licenses to schools. They don't charge the schools for software now, and they won't charge the schools for software later, because that would defeat the purpose of giving the software away. Renewal fees are not an issue anyone sane would worry about. 2. Incoming government workers already know how to use Microsoft software, because that's what they used at school. They complain if they're supposed to use something else.
  - justinjlynn 9y ago
    > Renewal fees are not an issue anyone sane would worry about Right. The presence of that threat is enough to discourage looking for alternatives. "we hear you've been looking into Linux and teaching Python instead of C#/.Net next year... sure would be a shame..."
    - thaumasiotes 9y ago
      You seem to be confusing the software the school uses internally with the software it makes available to students.
      - justinjlynn 9y ago
        I'm not confusing anything.

notatoad 9y ago

they apply to proprietary software. they most certainly do not apply equally. it's a lot easier (and therefore cheaper) to find staff to support windows than it is to find staff to support linux.

justinjlynn 9y ago
I would certainly be interested in some concrete numbers.

sokoloff 9y ago

For market dominating software, those costs can be reduced by sites like stackoverflow, youtube, and blog posts/samples. Try searching for how to perform an arbitrary function in Word or Excel. Hundreds of hits, and probably 25% will solve your problem. Try the same search for Google Sheets or OpenOffice. Crickets was always my experience.

justinjlynn 9y ago
Of course, but do notice that with open source software, if one has the motivation, it's all right there in black and white code. Doesn't work for you? change it. Don't know what's going on? It's because you haven't looked - you're not prevented from doing anything. That's assuming you can't get in touch with the person who wrote it. Which you probably could quite easily do.
- sokoloff 9y ago
  Yes; I've sent patches to open source projects before. When I'm in "accomplish a task using a spreadsheet" or "write a document/prepare a presentation" mode, I'm probably not going to be inclined (nor have time) to go rathole on changing the source to the office application, recompiling, testing, doing my original task, and submitting a patch.