Ok. I think that everybody is now thinking that I am more Open Source oriented than Closed Source. Well, it's not completely true in sense that I'm not 'fanatic' and biased about Linux and Open Source 'anyway', but I like the way Open Source solutions are developed, and the fact that you have to work hard to set things up since you really have to learn them, while commercial software is mostly (not always) for 'super experienced users'.I LIKE OpenSource, no matter what is better, but this does not mean I am convinced it is better. As an IT 'professional', I have to daily face with enterprise needs where it's not a matter of what I'd like to propose to my 'customer counterparts', but what is the solution that best fits their needs, based on a variety of considerations (costs, advantages, support, simplicity, benefits, etc.). It is often hard to convince people when the Open Source proposed solution is THE solution (it is not always, but almost, and when it is, it is not obvious for everybody).
I normally do not make wars, but I like to talk about differences. I do not have an answer on what is better, and I don't think that there can be people that could really state it: to be able to say what is better, one should REALLY know both solutions as an EXPERT, then he/she should look at which should be the criteria to judge (simplicity to use? simplicity to manage? stability? scalability? efficiency? performance? what?).
So, as a user, simple question to better explain: what is better between MS Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla Firefox (FFX)? I do not have an answer. I notice that FFX uses more RAM than IE. Some web applications cannot be accessed with FFX due to some ActiveX software or something like that (who's the guilty? Web App developers or FFX?). The actual IE 7 supports tabs and search bar as FFX has done for...years? I love the fact that FFX has hundreds (thousands?) of additional plugins to enhance your browser experience. This reason, by itself, is in my opinion one BIG difference, no matter if it takes about 10/20/30MB of additional RAM. There are a lot more differences, but who knows them all?
We could start talking in the same way about MS Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, or about the differences between Apache/IIS, or Squid/ISA, or... Plenty of discussions but do we know them all so hard to be able to state all the differences?
No, we're not, so let's look at the fact that we know for sure that Open Source software has a more frequent software updating and therefore a faster lifecycle and continuous improvements, that it is really well developed (there is no marketing behind it, and there has to be a reason to choose it!) and last, but not least, there is a cost saving.
More, it is often synonymous of innovation since most of the innovative solutions are Open Source code based.
We could start talking in the same way about MS Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, or about the differences between Apache/IIS, or Squid/ISA, or... Plenty of discussions but do we know them all so hard to be able to state all the differences?
No, we're not, so let's look at the fact that we know for sure that Open Source software has a more frequent software updating and therefore a faster lifecycle and continuous improvements, that it is really well developed (there is no marketing behind it, and there has to be a reason to choose it!) and last, but not least, there is a cost saving.
More, it is often synonymous of innovation since most of the innovative solutions are Open Source code based.
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