Compare price of open source versus closed software

Yet another report is telling us that open source software is a good investment:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf

This time from the European comission

Over the last years we have seen a few of these reports both in Europe and in other parts of the World. The calculations are different from one report tp the other, but bottom line is the same´:

License fee versus consultancy expenses. measured over 3, 5 or perhaps 10 years.



Most companies, organizations and public offices is running one-year-budgets and we assume that the calculations must give some kind of truth. This is the micro economic truth.



From my point of view we need to see things more from a macro economic perspective. A perspective where we try to take into consideration if the society has a positive advantage of the choice.



If we take a close look at the comparison calculation for a short while, we will see that most expenses in the conventional solutions (closed systems) we will see that most of the expenses are license fees. The open source projects on the other side has almost no license fees but a lot of consulting, education and implementation expenses. Consulting work is often done by local IT-consultants.



My point is that from a society point of view the expenses in open source projects has a much higher value. License fees are not local.



The open source projects will create jobs and revenue in the local society and has a much higher value to the society. Projects with closed software will on the other hand send the money away and increase import. Unless ofcouse if you live en Reedmond, California.

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Start OpenOffice.org faster

Have you ever considered wondered why OpenOffice.org is so slow at starting up ?
You actually have several options to reduce the start-up time.

1) Preload OpenOffice.org
You can preload parts of OpenOffice.org together with your computer. This options is only available for some operating systems.

Select Tools Options OpenOffice.org Memory. Check the last field Load OpenOffice.org During System Start-Up. Next time you start your computer you can see a small icon in the system tray.

Be ware that this option takes some memory from your computer before you even start OpenOffice.org. If you have enough memory or if you are using OpenOffice.org most of the time, this option will be a good idea.


2) Load OpenOffice.org with parameter
You can create an icon to load OpenOffice.org without the splash screen. "C:\Programmer\OpenOffice.org 2.1\program\swriter.exe" -nologo . The parameter -nologo will improve startup time.


3) Edit soffice.ini
Find the file C:\Programmer\OpenOffice.org 2.1\program\soffice.ini and open it with a text editor e.g. notepad. Find the line Logo=1 and change it to Logo=0. Then save the file.

It's a good idea to create a backup copy of the file before you make changes to the ini file.

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Important personal experience

Most people has some kind of relation to religion. No matter if you are christian or atheist, Muslim or Hindu. Most people has some considerations about religion.

I'm not religious in particular. I consider my self as christian because I follow the basic conducts that was given to my by my parents. So the Christianity is somehow inside me.

About one year ago I has an experience that was very close to a religious experience. I couldn't help thinking: Lord.

It was in the late summer and I had spend a week with my wife and two sons in a cottage on the west coast of Denmark. Very close to the ocean. Close enough to actually hear the waves on the beach in the evening.

Around midnight we saw a spectacular light outside and we looked up in the sky and we saw that the sky was covered with light. Northern Light.

When I was a boy I have seen something similar, but only a few waves floating over the sky. This night it was completely dark and at the same time ...light. The sky was completely covered with this carpet of waves. The waves came from a center point. All waves came from this point and moved out towards the horizon. The whole way around. Spooky, but also very calming and peaceful.

I was standing outside the cottage for about 10 minutes before it disappeared. I didn't have time to get a camera. Today, I would like to have had a picture from that night now, but I just didn't have time. (This picture is just a picture from the Internet. )

As I wrote: I'm not religious. But I am very happy that I have had this beautiful experiance.

Conference - boring

I'm participating in a conference (Lotus Notes). Early morning - tired.



Hwo cares about LDAP sync and simular subjects ?

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Could you pass me the salt .... Thank you !

Why is it so difficult to contribute to open source projects ?

Well, I know that thousands of people around the world is doing an effort every day. But it's not enough. The programs are beeng used by millions. Why doesn't everybody contribute ?

The answer is: They don't know !

• They don't know why !
• They don't know when !
• They don't know how !
• They just don't know !

What ????

Imagine that you are in a restaurant with your wife. The guest at the next table asks you politely: "Could you pass me the salt, please ?". Would you hesitate to pass it to him ? No, I don't think so. And when you pass the salt; he will say "Thank you".

To pass him the salt didn't cost you anything and the response "Thank you" didn't cost him anything. We learned to behave like this as children and we try to teach our children to do the same.

Why ? - Because it works !

So, what has this to do with open source software ?

• The cost !
• The price !
• The good deed for the day !

If we teach our children that they can pay back when they get something for free, they will automatically give a small contribution when they use open source software. Not only by typing their credit card number. Well, that will be okay, but actually it would be better if we gave them some easy opportunities to contribute:

• Create a CD and give it as a present to somebody
• Use 1 hour as a translator
• Write a small manual (or check another authors manual for misspellings)
• Put a OSS logo on you website
• Write your name on the 'supporters wall' (references)
• What ever ...
  

It should cost anything else than some private time. A commercial enterprise could 'donate' some hours in a project.

All we need is to find out some easy ways to contribute. And learn the children why, when and how.

Let's make a 'thank-you' campaign !