Hmmm....interesting....i hadnt thought of it from this angle. I see your point, and its a very valid one.
They sound like idealists, but you never know, when its a question of money, everyone is of the same religion..... thanks Ashok > Am Freitag, 28. April 2006 10:37 schrieb Ashok Hariharan: > > -the company is small - about 30 people, 4 main developers. if all > > 4 got in to the same car, and got killed in an > > accident - that would be the end of it. > > Or, which is much more likely, take a big company, let them buy this > small one, and decide to either dump the software in favour of their > own or to not develop it any further (for the same reason), but also > not to make it open source, so that you are forced to go for their > product (or the open source alternative, in which case you would be > right there where you are now). Or let the company develop the > software further, not open source, of course, into a direction you > don't want it to go... and they just don't care. > > If you plan a long term contract in this issue, I'd go for the open > source alternative. Calculate the time you need to develop the > missing features, and consider how long this company might be able to > stand up against takeover offers. Are they all idealists? Or would a > healthy pension be enough for the executives to hand the business > over to another company? > > > -their balance sheet is pretty healthy > > one of the reasons why the above could happen. > > > -the few existing clients, are big long term customers.... > > one more reason (particularly the "big") ... > > Martin > -- > Martin Senftleben, Doctor of Philosophy, S.V. University, using Linux > http://www.drmartinus.de/ > http://www.daskirchenjahr.de/ > > [attachment "attpmcje.dat" deleted by Ashok Hariharan/BSS/ITS/SYMPHONY]
