How OSS Models Put Vendor Support on Solid Ground

Jane Walker writes "How can vendors offer free enterprise software and be financially strong enough to provide commercial support? It's all about hybrids, says expert Julie Hanna Farris. Find out how to determine if a commercial open source vendor has the chops to support products in the long term."

Comments

Question.

[AnonymousPrick]

FTFA: If vendors don't have tangible proof points available and customer references then they're not giving you enough information.

What do you do if you're just starting out?

There's been a couple of times when I've mentioned F/OSS to business owner as a potential addition or replacement to his IT infrastructure (MySQL, Open Office) and as soon as they hear "free" they get this funny glaze over their eyes. Small businesses LOVE the word "free", but I think they equate "free" with junk - "you get what you pay for" attitude. I think they're also afraid of things not working, which equals no revenue coming in. This is a hurdle that I can't seem to get over.

Yeah, I'm a shitty sales guy.