Enterprise open source Toolkit

Story: The problems with open source

Posted by: Arthur B. (Monday 8 August 2005, 11:22 PM)

Elas, the support for Microsoft products isn't ideal either. Sure, there are plenty of takers of your money but results vary and there are more wannabee experts out there then people that actually know what they are doing, keep within budget and deliver on time. Let alone repeat the same tricks the year after.

Compatibility? Try mixing and matching some of Microsoft's (or even third-party) older product versions with newer ones and vice versa. Hmmm, not quite what the doctor ordered. So it seems that in order to stay "compatible" you'll have to upgrade, upgrade, pay, pay. And expect the same from everyone you communicate with. Hello, here's our juicy contract we would like you to sign. Please spend a few hundred to read it as we intented it to be read.

Ofcourse people nowedays can be overwhelmed by new user interfaces, buttons and what not. All the more reason to keep pumping money into upgrades, upgrades, pay, pay. Never mind that at home people remember the 7 finger combination of a possible 11002 combinations to do exactly what they want to do in the latest game they purchased. Or how about that new DVD recorder? Or PDA? Some nifty USB device thingy that came with crappy software then? Not to mention the new enterprise application getting deployed at work. Or the new desktop environment IT Staff is pushing out. The second one this year.

Yes, preperation is key. IT Staff needs to be trained well in time. Support needs to be ready. Business processes need to be continued. Etc, etc.

In short, if you really know what you're doing and what's really important and what not in the short and long run then you can start making the right choices for your business. In all other cases you first have a thing or two to learn.