Re: Impressions of EGL - Part Duex

[Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen <thunderaxiom@xxxxxxxxx>]

Guillermo Andrades, CPI Software skrev  den 26-05-2008 20:29:
> Thorbjørn ,
>
> <<vendor lock-in. Can you guarantee that your product will be updated and
> supported for the next X years? Including if you happen to be bought by a
> competitor?>>
>
> A lot of customers and BP was thinking in it when using Ofivision or OS2 or
> VisualAgeRPG or AD/Cicle and +others+ from IBM directly, or MS with VB and
> FoxPro.
> The Future is very hard to predice even in big names companies.
>   
As you might have noticed - I've mentioned it once or twice - I am 
currently advocating that I believe that the only way to be CERTAIN that 
it will be available is to have the source available to the general 
public under a suitable license of the WHOLE software stack you are 
using - this is hard when using AS/400 but it is important to know what 
choices you have.   I know that this is not the usual place to do 
advocating, but I believe that most of the people in here have been 
bitten at least once.

For those interested in the economic view of this, I would suggest that 
you read the writings of Eric Raymond at 
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/magic-cauldron/ (he 
has a lot of writings of the kind at 
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/)

Regarding the examples you mention, I am certain that it is not 
technological reasons but political reasons that they are not here today 
in the form they were at their heyday.