http://www.blog.teledyn.com/node/594 Comments for "License Fees vs. Linux Hype: and the Winner is..." en http://www.blog.teledyn.com/node/594 (<small><i>from <a href="http://archive.webpronews.com/2002/0725.html">WebPro News 2002</a></small>)</i> <br> <font face="verdana" size="2"> by Gary Lawrence Murphy <br> <h2>Don't Believe the FUD ... or the Hype </h2> <br> While Microsoft spreads fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) over free software, the advocates often oversell community software on pure enthusiasm; there are truths on both sides. You can't blame the geeks who laboured years without recognition, budgets or marketing: By their ideas alone, whole governments are now choosing their work over wares honed by the world's richest vendors! Between the FUD and the hype, there are community alternatives for most business needs, but there are also rough edges. <br> <br> <b>Capability is not Usefulness</b> <br> Evaluating community alternatives can easily get mired in hype. Voicemail is a one example: apologists offer "mgetty" for voicemail and fax, and mgetty is a very good voicemail/fax/modem driver, but it is only a driver. We are left to evaluate the control programs by fetching, installing and testing each one, only to discover even a partial solution requires a delicate interleave of all of them. Hours of fun for the after-work tinkerer, tedious and expensive when you're paying by the hour. <br> </font> <font face="verdana" size="2"><br> <b>Opensource on the Desktop</b> <br> Unlike server administrators who will face completely alien consoles migrating from NT, an MsOffice and MSIE user will easily slip into StarOffice and Mozilla; the dominant Linux desktops are very similar to Windows. It's pretty easy. <br> http://www.blog.teledyn.com/node/594#comments Thu, 25 Jul 2002 13:00:00 -0400 garym 594 at http://www.blog.teledyn.com