Open Source More Expensive Says MS Report

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @04:32AM from the yeah-that'll-fly dept.

doperative writes "Much conventional wisdom about programs written by volunteers is wrong. The authors took money for research from Microsoft, long the archenemy of the open-source movement — although they assure readers that the funds came with no strings attached. Free programs are not always cheaper. To be sure, the upfront cost of proprietary software is higher (although open-source programs are not always free). But companies that use such programs spend more on such things as learning to use them and making them work with other software"

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Don't forget to RTFA. by khasim · 2011-01-19 05:08 · Score: 4, Interesting

TFA is even worse than that with their usage of weasel-words.

Yet the finding that open-source advocates will like least is that free programs are not always cheaper.
Pay particular attention to the "not always" in that statement. If only ONE "open-source" app is more expensive than a SINGLE closed source app then their statement is true.
Useless, but true.