Cost is not an issue
Posted by: Khuzaima on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 10:40 AM
Some of those in the Free Software community are of the opinion that we
should emphasise the low-cost aspect of free software rather than deliberately sidetracking it. This is dangerous and potentially harmful to our movement. This article tries to explain why cost should not be an issue in the advocacy of free software which should focus entirely on software freedom.
The deliberate sidetracking of the low-cost aspect of free software is extremely important. Please consider the following:
A large proprietary software corporation like say, Microsoft, if and when sufficiently threatened by free software, could flood the Indian market with low- or no-cost versions of its proprietary software without seriously affecting its bottom-line in the short term. It could even turn a blind eye to so-called "piracy" of its products (for a while!). Why? To achieve what is called in the industry as "product lock-in." This is a classic technique used widely in the proprietary computer industry (hardware and software) and Microsoft in particular excels at it. Once locked-in, many customers find it more difficult and costly to switch to alternatives (free or non-free) rather than just purchase the next "upgrade" from the earlier benevolent Microsoft.
By stressing on cost rather than software freedom, we fall into the above trap. When a user is not even aware of software freedom it can be very easily denied to him or taken away from him. It is of paramount importance to make him see that this is not an issue of cost. That in fact it is not unthinkable that may be, just may be, at some point in the future he might actually have to pay a higher monetary cost to guard (or achieve) this freedom.
Next comes the issue of service and support. By stressing on the low- or no-cost aspect of free software products, we would be completely disregarding the service and support of these products. We would be really kidding ourselves if we thought that the free software movement can be permanently sustained by voluntary service and support. Service, support and customization would in fact be the main revenue sources of future free software business models. By saying that free software is gratis we make it very difficult for people to make money from it.
Let's face it, (free software) programmers have to make a living too (yeah, surprise!) And there's no such thing as a free lunch. By stressing on the low- or no-cost aspect of free software, we would be doing a great disservice to great programmers and putting hurdles in their path to making a living. This in itself may prove suicidal for our movement.
Government procurement: This is actually a non-issue. We all know that procurement decisions of our governments are based on several complex criteria (many of them _extraneous_) which have very little to do with *COST*. The less said about this the better.
I urge fellow free software advocates to please sideline the issue of cost in the course of advocacy. To bring up the low- or no-cost issue is to tread a dangerous path strewn with potential minefields.

Re: Cost is not an issue(Score: 1)
by sankarshan on Mar 14, 2003 - 02:57 PM
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The article clearly states a roadmap for Free Software activism and i daresay the future course advocates of FLOSS should be taking. However let us be clear on some points.
It is agreed by everybody that average John Doe needs a working machine that serves his *limited* skill sets and even specific demands. For a discussion of the demands, i am always willing to go offlist, but suffice to say that these are not much different from the SOHO demands. An article in the Economic Times of India around a month back opined, that with hardware prices crashing through the floor the only barrier to a system purchase remains to be software. Lets face it, for a completely licensed SOHO system, besides shelling out ~ INR 25000/- for the base system an equivalent is required to get software. In such a scenario how does freedom matter.
Freedom as a philosophical and historical concept has long been the enabling force of civilisations. Each man wants to be free and wars have been fought over cases where freedom has been curbed. The four bases of freedom as espoused by FSF appeal to the haves in the society. If ICT is aimed at being an enabling force, capable enough of breaking down barriers between social strata by making knowledge available to all, then price matters. Cost matters as does ROI.
For an idea of how TCO can affect schools investing in e-education, i would like to point you to an article on the iLUG-Kolkata site "TCO - a case for Linux in Schools". A project run by NIIT outside their Delhi HO, using Internet access as a means to study self-learning paradigm showed that given the toolsets, children all always eager to learn. The differential is in having access or not having access to affordable technology. Is it a surprising conclusion, that developing countries and their economies (eg Namibia etc) are all the more eager to embrace Free Software culture solely because of the economic metrics involved ?
For cash rich proprietary closed source giants like the one from Redmond, it is very easy to give away programs at 'no-cost'. Shutting out competition by bundling software and/or application utilities (eg Internet Explorer) with the OS it ships is a long prevailing monopolistic strategy. And it has been roundly thrashed in courts of law. But it also does not make marketing sense for the company to start offering programs for gratis, not even lower end support withdrawn programs. The only reason is that it establishes a precedent and ups the ante. And from then on it is a different ball game.
Application or need migration to Free Software rests on the bulwark of proving shorter time for the investment to be recouped, greater stability, proven ability to withstand stress, and the concept of 'freedom'.
'Product lock-in' is an accepted marketing tool. But take a look at the indian market scenario. Courses in the so called institutes teach 'MS Word, MS Excel' etc mind you not generic terms of wordprocessing or spreadsheets. Such a scenario even when alternatives of OpenOffice and/or StarOffice being present lends credence to the fact that marketing and awareness go hand in hand. Microsoft will not tolerate piracy, not even for its short term product inroad gains. Along with BSA it has stringent anti-piracy measures in place. Local colleges in West Bengal, where i live have received punitive actions or threats thereof so as to prevent unlicensed software suites being used.
It is a marketing campaign fallacy or the unfortunate fallout of FMCG marketing that 'free' as a word is associated with something obtained for gratis. Freedom and free are not related at least not first up. It is a responsibility of the groups involved in the movement to stress on that. But concluding that cost does not matter is something i would emphatically disagree with.
regards
sankarshanm@softhome.net
- posted by sankarshan @ 3/20/2003 06:14:00 AM