[asterisk-users] AGI pdf book

[Michael]

\
> No... there's no shortage of work that needs doing. But there's a
> definite shortage of money to pay those to do it -- hence the massive,
> worldwide layoffs. Your little corner may not be affected, but to
> discount basic economics because you don't see it? Well... that's
> incredibly short-sighted and provincial.
>
> Expect a bigger push to FOSS simply because fewer companies can afford
> what they used to be able to afford. They can't get loans. The people
> who buy their services and wares have all but vanished, so they have no
> influx of capital. This is not some 'media-created' concept.
>
> There's some incredibly good OSS and FOSS out there (Asterisk is a case
> in point). People who sneer at companies that use it, saying they're
> somehow lesser than companies that don't are, I usually find, those who
> are making a living overcharging for their products.

This could become quite a long winded O.T. discussion. Unfortunately not 
appropriate for this list.

I use mainly FOSS in my business. But the days of me providing technical 
support services to others who do are fast coming to an end. FOSS by and 
large attracts a certain type of 'client', one who is rarely commercially 
viable.

Given that I have other business interests where firm orders just turn up, 
almost nil support is required, and 100% of the customers pay their bills 
(nonwithstanding a few are slightly late)..... The hassle, the tyre kicking, 
the 'you have to be dreaming' and the chasing up of overdue accounts, 
including having to write off some of them, the endless discussions and 
briefings with customers on small value projects..... It's a PITA I'd rather 
do without.

Sorry people. It's only a few short years ago I was in the nerd camp and 
trotting out the same mantras about how great it is to have open source... 
But I am now a bit older, slightly more wiser and with a lot less ideological 
view of things.