Corporations (especially large ones) like buying things from financially
solvant companies so that they get support, maintenance, training, product
upgrades, etc. They want to know that they will be able to effectively use
the product, that the product will be around for a while, and that their
training will not be waisted because the product doesn't work the same after
an upgrade or it becomes obsolete. Concerns over product testing and QA
processes also drive corporations toward commercial products. Other key
areas include warrantee and liability issues (they really like having
someone else to blame if things go bad). With this mindset, they will
usually stay away from open source products (unless they are backed by a
company).
It is hard to measure the cost of free software. You must consider the time
spent installing and tweeking the software in your environment and the time
spent learning how to use it. Your costs will increase significantly if you
try to maintain/modify the software, and can quickly go beyond the cost of
comparable commercial software.
As an engineer, I really like the open source software... but it is hard to
make a strong business case for it (the business managers and finance
managers just don't get it). I'll continue to use open source software
whenever it meets my needs, and tolerate the poor commercial packages I'm
given at work. (Product testing and QA of commercial software is clearly
not as thorough as it needs to be; the buyers just don't understand.)
- res -
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Metzger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 6:39 AM
Subject: RE: Commercial vs OpenSource
> The Biggest advantage to useing commercial products is that you will get
> tech. support at least for some time anyway. Open Source products don't
come
> with tech. support my nature, but on the flip side, you can always get
help
> on most any open source product from mailing lists like this one. The
> biggest advantage is on the side of open source, which is cost. From my
> experance the open source stuff usually works better, mainly because if
> there is a bug in it, rather than just 1 or 2 people working on it in
> corporate America, there will be no telling how many people working on the
> same problem. My advise is to go with open when ever possible. Hope This
> helps you atleast a little.
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bennett Samowich
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 8:26 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Commercial vs OpenSource
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> I probably will open the proverbial "can of worms" here, but...
>
> With the amount of different products on the market and without starting a
> religious debate, what would be the advantage of using commercial firewall
> or IDS products versus OpenSource ones? I have used ipchains and snort at
> sites with over 1000 nodes and it seemed to work just fine. I have also
> been at sites that are using Cisco PIX and (can't remember the name) their
> IDS. I really can't see any distinct advantage save for budget and
> personal preference. Is it really that simple?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> - Bennett
>
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