Free as in “Free Kittens”

Deborah Finn pointed out this good post in a blog I have never read: ALA Tech Source. I haven’t read that blog (yet) because I’m not a librarian, although, I’ve always thought what Deborah said on the ISF list: “I have long thought that nonprofit techies should make a point of learning from and making common cause with tech-savvy librarians.” She’s ahead of me since she actually reads librarian blogs.

Anyway, there is a (soon to be classic) line: “…all of these technologies are ‘free’ as in ‘free kittens,’ not free as in ‘free beer.’”

I do think that is something that we have a hard time getting across to folks. I just had a great conversation with a IT manager at a medium-sized nonprofit that had implemented Asterisk for their call center. The bottom line, from his perspective, was flexibility. They saved some in cost from a proprietary PBX system – but then they had to spend more on support and the like – it was a wash cost wise. But what they gained, and it sounds like he’s not willing to give it up – is flexibility. It takes more, because you own your own system. But then, you own it – you can do much more.

Open source software, like kittens, take care and management. Some software, like Firefox, is like that kitten that is easy – it learns to be litter trained once, and just sits on your lap (or in its little bed) in a ball and sleeps, and plays only when you want it to. Other projects take more care and feeding, and you might have to take it to the vet.

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