[Asterisk-Users] Sangoma VS. Digium

[Jeremy Jones]

On Thu, 2005-03-31 at 02:43 -0500, Brian Capouch wrote:

> My understanding is that to an extent when we buy Sangoma we're putting 
> the dagger to Digium.  

Come on!  If Digium started manufacturing tires, would i need to put 'em
on my car to keep on the favorable side of karma?  Digium makes
telephony hardware that they sell on the open market.  They also
subsidize Asterisk development.  If Digium finds itself unable to
compete in an open market, do you believe Asterisk development would
cease?  

Now, if another company makes hardware that they advertise as working
with Asterisk, and that hardware is (hypothetically, of course, as I've
never used Sangoma hardware) 1) better priced, and 2) functionally
superior, does this not make Asterisk itself more accessible?  As more
integrators and developers are drawn to Asterisk, more and more
subsidies will come to the development of Asterisk.  By releasing the
source to the community, Digium has ensured that the community can grow
to the point where Asterisk development can sustain itself w/out
worrying about the economic survival of any one particular business
enterprise.

> I'll be glad to stand corrected, but if that assertion is in fact true, 
> we should be careful to do things that actually damage Digium's ability 
> to leverage their development of Asterisk with their hardware sales.

If the point of buying Digium hardware is sentimental -- i.e. if you
insist on paying Digium for your cards because you want to thank them
for being nice and helping with Asterisk -- that's one thing (although,
for all you know, there could be lots of really nice people working for
Sangoma, too).  If the assertion is that Asterisk will die w/out Digium,
I, for one, think that's nonsense.

Jeremy