Quoting Enda (enda at unison.ie):
> Propose linux, and the "lack of warranties" associated with it, and they
> have to analyse the risk and conclude that should it fail, we dump it, and
> implement MS. Which in theory, has to be more expensive than running with an
> MS solution from day one, therefore MS offers better value for money,
> because the "don't work" scenario will be underwritted by MS.
One could point out that:
1. The "warranties" from Microsoft Corporation have been so limited in
scope and remedies as to be effectively useless, and...
2. Nothing in open-source licensing precludes purchasing warranty
coverage from any party willing to offer it. The phrase you want to use
is that open source makes such "a la carte" service possible, where they
typically are not an option with proprietary alternatives.
Very likely, the same firms from whom the government would purchase
technical support contracts would also be willing to offer "warranty"
coverage. (A rational consumer would, however, want to stop to consider
what warranty coverage they are actually _getting_ with other
alternatives, and what annual expense the benefits warrant. I suspect
that no such rational analysis has occurred in this case, but rather
"warranties" are being bandied about as a symbolic issue -- a "checklist"
requirement.)
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