[Koha] Supporting the Open Source Concept

[koha at joetho.com]

Previous poster mentions... "Free software is not free hosting, bandwidth,
storage, backup, migration, and support."

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An additional reason we chose a vendor instead of hosting this software
ourselves was personnel-  we knew we would have to hire at least one and
probably more programmers to deal with the software, and frankly we were
just not interested in dealing with all the attendant issues that go along
with that.

What happens if they split? Which they almost certainly would, at some
point. 

What happens if the learning curve is simply too steep, or we hired the
wrong person, or, or, or,

For us, it was a relatively simple business decision. It was clear then, and
remains so. We would hire a vendor; the vendor would provide what we want.

Watching vendors spar with one another is only entertaining when the
sparring is professional and doesn't compromise the end-user experience, the
overall client/vendor environment, or (in the case of opensource library
software) the entire concept of the project in question. 

This is different than competition- competition is healthy! 

The philosophy of opensource software development, by all accounts, is one
of cooperation and growth. Maturity and communication. Utility and function.
Financial gains are not really addressed- yet we all recognize the need to
feed our own families, and of course our vendors and their employees share
that need. 

As I said earlier, our decision to hire a vendor was simple and clear. It is
up to the vendor to figure out how to deliver the goods, within the terms of
both our contract and the opensource license we all share, and we as
customers simply accept that. 

TGIF!
Joe Tho
SEKLS/SEKnFIND/Southeast Kansas