On Thu, 15 Apr 2004, Jason Pollard wrote:
> You could alternatively hire a consultant/developer to deliver an
> open-source-based software solution that you could deploy across x
> servers as needed. (That's what I do by the way, so take it with a
> grain of salt.) That way you don't have to worry about your hardware
> vendor going out of business, or begging your closed-source software
> vendor (e.g. Vignette) to make a change for you, because you'd have
> code built on (generally bombproof) open code that just about any
> developer could take a look at and modify as needed.
If you're going to do that, make sure you get all the code that your
developer writes for you. It's a lot easier to make sure you've got
everything before a breakup than after. :-) As well, if possible, you
should insert someone who works for you into the vendor's development
team. Software is a lot more than just source code; it's also a body of
knowledge about how to change it, build it and install it, most of which
is never written down on custom projects.
But this is now officially off-topic, I'd say. And also I am one of
these vendors, too, so assume I have the appropriate biases.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs_at_cynic.net> +81 90 7737 2974 http://www.NetBSD.org
Don't you know, in this new Dark Age, we're all light. --XTC
Received on Fri Apr 16 05:18:35 2004