When Free Is Better

[Warren Togami]

Ouch...

I got my issue of Hawaii Business in the mail today.  Most of the article is
fair and balanced... but one paragraph was rather alarming.

"... Because open-source software basically gives free reign to any and all
computer enthusiasts to get inside the belly of the software - the source
code - and make improvements or changes to it, mission-critical projects
would obviously require closed-source commercial applications, such as
Microsoft Windows or Macintosh."

This plainly states that open source is unsuitable for mission critical
applications, just because it is open source?  I'm afraid that Mark Hines
and I have been gravely misunderstood during our interview.  This conveys in
a very strong way that I, a Linux advocate, think Linux is merely a toy that
cannot reliably do mission critical jobs.

This is the exact opposite of what we are trying to convey.  Many Open
Source server projects has been shown to be equal or even superior to
commercial software, especially with respect to security and stability.  For
example, read the recent Gartner warning saying that Microsoft IIS web
server is a severe liability in its lack of security.  Apache has had
nowhere near this level of vulernability, while Apache is running the
majority of Internet web sites.  Apache is only one of many Open Source
success stories.

The uninitiated already have this false pretense that "Money must equate to
excellence." when it comes to technology.  I hope the notion of this
paragraph does not become reinforced in the readership of this article.