July 22, 2009, 4:00 am
The growing popularity of free open source software (FOSS) is a sure sign that consumers and software developers alike are becoming more disenchanted with costly proprietary products. However, the promise of free software can be tarnished when software packages need configuration help and that help proves hard to find. When users have to wade through dozens of forum messages seeking a solution, the FOSS philosophy can turn into a turn-off.
Especially for business users, the cost of tech support for free software and the various Linux distributions can become an issue that makes IT managers and CIOs reluctant to migrate from the Windows platform. Although the software is free, users should not expect the developers to absorb the cost of helping them to use it…
