OSS In the Office

[Jim]

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Obviously, company #1 hasnt read their EULAs.

On Sat, 2003-04-19 at 13:11, George Toft wrote:
> I have two opposing tales to tell from two different companies with very
> large employee bases.
> 1.  OpenSource and Shareware are specifically prohibited as there is
> nobody to sue if a failure disrupts productivity or damages data.  Also,
> by using OSS instead of contractually ($$$) supported software means
> there is no liability on the part of the OSS provider for recovering
> damages.
>=20
> - and on the opposite end of the spectrum -
>=20
> 2.  Use whatever software you need to perform your job - just ensure you
> are compliant with the licensing from the vendor.
>=20
> I'm currently at company #2, and have a properly licensed installation
> of Cygwin on my XP desktop.  One of my coworkers uses Linux and runs
> VMWare (properly licensed) for the one Windows app he needs.
>=20
> Company #1 was very enlightening as this mandate came from Computer
> Security, part of Technology Risk Management, Legal Department.  Funny
> thing was the sysadmins used sudo (OSS) on their AIX boxes for security
> reasons.
>=20
> George
> --=20
> Discover . . .         | Free Computer Security Information
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>          Networking    |=20
> @http://georgetoft.com | Lock your box - keep your affairs private!
>=20
>=20
> Austin Godber wrote:
> >=20
> > Here is a snip from a slashdot thread today (the one about MS Office).
> > I am wondering if this is a good summary of business attitudes, and if
> > so, how should opensource deal with it?
> >=20
> > ----
> >   The reason that they [businesses] won't touch OSS is because they
> > perceive risk to their careers in going with it. It's not that OSS is
> > more or less buggy, it's a matter of them having to take the blame if i=
t
> > goes badly. If you buy from a proprietary software vendor, then you've
> > got somebody that you are paying, that you can yell at if things go
> > wrong. The decision to use their software won't ever be questioned, and
> > either they'll be made to fix it, or another vendor will be chosen. The
> > decision to pick that vendor will likely never be questioned as long as
> > the manager can show some due diligence in making the decision.
> >=20
> > On the other hand, if they choose an open source product, if there is a
> > bug, there's nobody to pass the buck too. So the manager is taking on
> > the burden of responsibility if that software does have bugs in it.
> > He'll be perceived as exposing the company to unnecessary risk just to
> > save a few bucks.
> >=20
> > This is part of an overall attitude problem in corporate america.
> > Managers, generally, suffer more for a mistake than they gain for a
> > success. Success is expected, that's doing your job. Failure is
> > incompetence. Of course failure caused by an effort to get the company
> > ahead of the game is still failure, so why take the risk. Hire
> > contractors, and pay for software vendors because if there is a mistake
> > you just dump the blame onto them, cut ties, and your job is secure.
> > ----
> >=20
> > Austin
> >=20
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>=20
>=20
--=20
 Jim

 Freedom is all we really want

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