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Japan Takes A Look At Open Source Software

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the c'mon-everybody's-doing-it dept.

irish_spic writes " Accorting to this AP story (in yahoo news), the public management ministry is setting up a panel of scholars and computer experts, including Microsoft officials in order to study the use of Open Source software in the government. The article cites concerns about costs and security as the reason for the study. Me wonders if they are serious or just trying to get discounts from MS."

3 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Re:... they are so damn stupid. by zzztkf · · Score: 0, Troll

    it's the reason why Japanese economy is
    in serious trouble for many years.When
    government officials are so stupid to
    include MS reps in order to study open
    source, how can they turn economy around?

  2. A Haiku... by slipgun · · Score: 1, Troll

    Japanese call it
    Linux not GNU/Linux
    RMS pissed off

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    SpamNet - a spam blocker that really works
  3. linux support costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    From all the sources that I hear , Linux support is currently expensive, but would the laws of supply and demand act to eventually reduce the cost to support Linux over time? It just seems to me right now that Linux support can charge so much $$$ because IT people skilled in Linux are in short supply(Correct me if I'm wrong, i'm making a guess based on here-say and other guesses).

    If you don't quite follow me,picture the following model...
    1. Assume the cost for support is $300 (Arbitrary number, feel free to use the real #)
    2. People in Linux support make lots of $$$
    3. Other people, seeing the $$$ made by Linux tech support , get training to be support themselves and therefore increase support supply, note that some of these people might be willing to work at a lower wage to guarantee a job.
    4. Pool of support personnel continue to expand until get to the point of where the supply exceeds demand.
    5. To create additional demand, prices must be lowered to a number like $270.(Ie. company X lowers support costs to retain or gain customers).
    6. Repeat.

    the model may by over-simplistic, and it ignores the possibility of occlusion or artificial barriers (i.e certification committees keeping #'s low to keep $$$ earned high)