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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>As far as I understand, corporation, and Govt's like
commercial products because of the issue of liability. That is why the
Commercial market and Govt market don't accept open source solutions.<font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Both governments (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place> anyone?) and commercial
entities (quite a few people have made money with Asterisk) accept open source.
</span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=FR
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Open source != non
commercial. </span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In fact, sometimes they’ll
want to have source for even closed source products. It might not be feasible
(I’ve had access and looked at the Windows source, and it’s huge…
I doubt anyone outside of MS would be able to do a thorough inspection.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
What is perplexing about the whole situation is that the licensing agreements
with commercial software 99.9% of the time indemnify the vendor of any and all
liability.<br>
<br>
So, what we have is the "feeling" of security... Perhaps Linus
should convince the various entities that distribute Linux to include a nice
fluffy security blanket with the licensing agreement embroidered on it?
That way the attorneys can get that "warm fuzzy feeling" they so
desire.<font color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Isn’t that what Red Hat is doing? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>As far as security, it’s not always
just a feeling. A company with a lot of money invested in a product (say, MS),
is going to make sure the product suits most of their customers as best as
possible. A non-commercial open source product might not always have that goal,
instead trying to build “better technology”. Go read Raymond Chen’s
blog: <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/">http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/</a>.
Read the history category. See the evil, horrible compatibility hacks that are
in Windows just to make sure apps keep working as people upgrade, even when
vendors do Bad Things? This is the kind of commitment that makes companies feel
secure that things will continue to work. <br>
<br>
Open source doesn’t have anything to do with this argument. The real
argument is non-commercial versus commercial. So it’s basically coming
down to “companies like to deal with other companies rather than a couple
of coders doing something for fun” … well, duh.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>I speak from much experience regarding this matter...<br>
The U.S. Govt won't accept an open-source solution even if it is the only
option to cover their ass. They'd rather leave their cheese out in the
wind than cover it with an open source solution.<font color=navy><span
style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>So the U.S. Govt has never used linux
anywhere? Wow.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Question:</span></b> Why isn't there a
commercial solution available in some cases?<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Answer:</span></b> What company in their
right mind would engineer a competing product to a solution that costs $0.00 ??<font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'>?<o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=navy
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>Again making the mistake that open source equates
non-commercial.</span></font><br>
<br>
<font color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>-Michael<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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