Australian Senate Hears Open Source Is Too Expensive

schliz writes "The Australian Government Information Management Office says that a platform change to open source could cost more than it saves. It was pushed to investigate open source software to reduce its AUD$500m budget at a Senate meeting yesterday. From the article: 'Agencies are obliged to consider value for money on each occasion they apply a software,' spokesperson Graham Fry said. 'If the cost of assessing it [open source] was greater than the cost of the software, you would have to think twice.'"

Comments

Think long term

[bguiz]

Yes, vendor lock in, training costs, etc, will cost more than maintaining the status quo, since the licenses for proprietary software are still valid for next few years.

But long term?? Without a doubt open source is the cheaper option there. Bite the bullet now, and several years down the road, you'll be thinking what a good choice you made when the current version of Windows, MS Office, et cetera, become obsolete, and you need to "upgrade".

Re:Hidden costs of open source

[ckaminski]

What is this strange obsession with using 'fudge' to replace 'fuck'? Just say FUCK for frying out loud and stop being a pansy. You know what you meant, we know what you meant, so just say it. Quit tiptoeing around like you're trying eight years old trying to swear in front of your parents and not get caught.