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Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
If you have a business that supports non-free software then users will go to that business to get that support. It would be better if the business only supported a _way_to_move_ from non-free software to free software for users, and clearly saying that it does not condone of non-free software.
Hi Alfred
I do believe you hit a nail on the head here. Your conception of allowing businesses to support a _way_to_move_ to Free Software from non-free software is very interesting. This way a business could offer to inherit a non-free customer and transition them to free software. It's a very nice concept for the provision of integration services.
A couple of thoughts come to mind: (A) How long a transition would be permitted? A small customer might install GNU/Linux and be happy, but a large enterprise would require several years of dual-support as systems are phased out and training is provided. (B) Would partial transitions be a supported activity? A customer might wish to get OpenOffice.org and Mozilla tools without ditching their Windows boxes. Would a GBN member be able to support this? Would the GBN member - by supporting Free Software tools on non-free operating systems - be doing good? (C) How can the exact line in the sand be drawn between supporting a _way_to_move_ to Free Software from non-free software and actually supporting non-free software?
I think long transitions would need to be supported to allow for enterprise adoption. Well, that's assuming we want GBN businesses to engage with the enterprise market.
I think partial transitions are a good idea. If people are introduced to the strengths of Free Software in their deployment environment I believe they are more likely to fully adopt in the future. Of course, I acknowledge that this type of transition is open to abuse or misrepresentation.
Drawing a line in the sand between transitions to Free Software and merely providing support for non-free software is difficult. However, I would suggest that if there is a road-map for adoption agreed it constitutes a fair method of indicating intended transition.
Shane
- -- Shane Martin Coughlan e: shane@opendawn.com m: +447773180107 (UK) +353862262570 (Ire) w: www.opendawn.com - --- OpenPGP: http://www.opendawn.com/shane/publickey.asc