Presentation is everything

CNet are running an article with a nice scary sounding headline

“Free Open Source Software Is Costing Vendors $60 Billion”

Pretty clearly trying to imply that open source software is a threat to the entire existence of the software industry. Don’t fall for such FUD. Just look at the headline from the other side of the fence

“Free Open Source Software Is Saving Customers $60 Billion”

Not nearly so scary sounding now. In fact it is probably quite appealing.

On the one hand, you have a small number of large software companies sitting on their monopolies and extorting cash through licensing fees. On the other hand, you have hundreds of thousands of companies saving money by using open source software, paying for services with tangible value for their business, rather than an arbitrary software “tax” (license fee). Open source software benefits the many, at the expense of the few. A worthy trade-off.