Scott,
Good points. What good is your software if you can't get support whether
it is free or for fee. I know of several shops that really got the short
end of the stick with the withdrawl of OfficeVision and I'm sure there are
horror stories after horror stories of similar situations where a key
piece of software just went away.
I am not familiar at all with WRKDBF so I don't know what the story is
with it. Guess I've been hiding up in the mountains all too long.
Rich Loeber
Kisco Information Systems
http://www.kisco.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Klement wrote:
Rich,
I'm not sure if you mean "freeware" literally -- in which case I agree
with you -- or if you mean "all free software. software without
commercial backing" in which case I think you're out of your mind.
Technically, the problem with WRKDBF is that it wasn't open source. It
was NOT free in the sense of freedom. It was only free in the sense of
not requiring you to pay a fee. Software that's distributed this way
is, indeed, called "freeware" (as opposed to "shareware" which is the
same thing, but requires a fee.)
If it had been open source, Bill (and Levitz) could've said "we're no
longer going to support this", and the other interested parties in the
community could've continued to support it, continue to add features,
continue to upgrade, etc. For sure, a recompile for V6R1 would've been
very easy if this had been open source.
But, since it wasn't -- it was freeware -- we're kinda screwed. In
fact, it's very much like a commercial product. If the company who owns
the product (whether you pay them for support or not) decides to drop
it, you're simply out of luck.
While you seem to associate this problem with free software, the
opposite has been true in my experience... it ALMOST ALWAYS happens with
commercial software. OfficeVision is an example. There are many
others... Any time a company decides they don't want to support
something anymore, they drop support and there's nothing you can do.
With open source, there is something you can do!
Rich Loeber wrote:
> Yet another reason not to implement "freeware" into your production
> environment. People complain about having to pay support fees, but
> here is a situation where it will really pay off. Vendors everywhere
> are scrambling now to get ready for the requirements of V6 and all
> those support payments are going to pay off with a seamless transfer
> of software when the time comes. WRKDBF may be a great tool, but
> without any support where does that leave you?
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