Guardian: open source is a throwback says Jack Schofield

[Skip Montanaro]

    malcolmny> Why you can't get something for nothing
    malcolmny> Jack Schofield Jan 22 2004
    ...
    malcolmny> If you are really going to do these things, you need to hire
    malcolmny> several reliable programmers with kernel-level skills"

Of course, this is only necessary if your company wants to go it completely
alone.  The fact that Linux is Open Source doesn't mean you can't delegate
the function of finding "several reliable programmers with kernel-level
skills" to Linux vendors like Red Hat.

    malcolmny> "Indeed, the whole progress of commercial computing has been
    malcolmny> from expensive hand-written, bug-ridden, company-specific
    malcolmny> programs to cheaper but more powerful off-the-shelf
    malcolmny> packages. From that point of view, open source is a
    malcolmny> throwback."

I fail to see the author's logic here.  In what way does he think that Open
Source software can't be treated as "cheaper but more powerful off-the-shelf
software"?  It's just not off a vendor's proprietary shelf.

Does Jack Schofield perhaps work for SCO? <wink>

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