In the traditional telecom world we are used to Proprietary software, with a big percentage of this software develop to cater and support a wide spectrum of features and functionalities to please each and every possible user. One issue with such approach is that most users do not actually use a big percentage of the software since they do not need the extra features and functionalities, however they already have paid for it and continue to pay for it. In my own little world this is called a waste of money, why pay for something you don’t use or will never use. Alright most vendors would say they offer integration services on top of the software, but is this not simply charging the customer twice? Just imagine you as a customer you pay for a piece of software and use 10% of its capabilities and to maximize that 10% you will need to buy integration or consulting services which might even be more expensive than the software itself. Should this proprietary software vendors simply develop a piece of software that is actually useful without having to squeeze the customer with high prices? Further to that every user has to pay a license fee, making large scale us of such software in a company very very expensive…
With open source software like Google’s Android, Linux, amanziTel’s Wireless Explorer the core platform is open source and free. This means that users do not have to pay for the core software, and being open source customers can develop their own applications or buy it somewhere else. With such flexibility and freedom is it not better for every customer? The answer of course lies within the customer’s strategies, principles and way of working. If they aim to minimize the cost spent in software then they should look for a solution where the total cost of ownership is lowest. The question is how do you as a user or customer calculate the total cost of ownership?
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