Free software is like free puppies

I’m all for free. We’re ROI guys here and it’s hard to argue with something that has a divisor of zero. That said, free isn’t always the least expensive. Free beer might be hard to overlook but an offer of free puppies will to require a bit of math before making the commitment. And that’s the problem with open source software. It’s not that open source solutions aren’t a good idea, it’s just that it requires a bit of math. We all know this. Anyone assessing open source knows to consider the hardware and support costs and most people include the training cost but there’s another hidden cost many overlook. The pace of technology change is rapid and shows no signs of slowing. New features, integration, and mobile support keep most of the big vendors on their toes and make a SaaS solution that much more attractive if only to avoid the upgrade treadmill of an onpremise solution. And that’s the issue. Even if it is cheaper, organizations really need to assess if their free software will remain competitive.