Michael Leone on Wed, 16 Oct 2002 12:20:04 -0400


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: [PLUG] OT: Linux Business Forum


W. Chris Shank said:
> I'm sorry. I really hate to beat a dead horse, but I need to give this
> one a few more whacks. This is a completely generic statement with no
> basis in actual fact other than my personal experiences and
> observations: People aren't getting laid because their budget was
> consumed by software
> licensing. People were getting laid off because thier businesses were
> LOSING money.

Who said they were laid off because of licensing costs? I sure didn't.

> people - you need to cut the jobs. And software licensing is typically a
> one time cost, so it's money already spent. Certainly some of the
> internet related companies were striking license deals that were renewed
> annually or based on sales or traffic or what not. But licensing is a
> fixed cost and is usually already spent and it typically comes from an
> entirely different fund that headcount.

Just today I'm working on next year's budget. Software license renewals
(needed for vendor support) for Symantec Norton Antivirus are gonna cost
my organization $30 per user/license. There's $2300 there. I have the same
situation with BackupExec maintenance. And OTG (imaging database program)
aintenance. And Pick maintenance. And ...

My point is that in a business, you may pay for the license once. (and MS
is trying to change that, too :-). But you have to also pay for continual
maintenance, as well. Sure, you could let it lapse. And then you run the
risk of not being able to get support/updates when something goes wrong,
etc.

My experience is that renewable maintenance is not "some of the internet
related companies"; it's most of the big software manufacturers.

-- 
PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF
Member, LEAF Project <http://leaf.sourceforge.net>    AIM: MikeLeone
Public Key - <http://www.mike-leone.com/~turgon/turgon-public-key.asc>
Registered Linux user# 201348


_________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group        --       http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug