[NBLUG/talk] [nblug] Help with locating good software

[Scrappy Laptop]

Just to expand on Andru's point,
 
commercial software != closed source

There are a wide range of 'open source' licenses ranging from the various GPL/LPL (give credit and give back any changes) versions  to the BSD license (do with it what you want but give the author credit) to Microsoft's open source license (in which the source is viewable but by license the user cannot modify nor distribute it).  They have nothing to do with whether or not the author / company charges for the software and/or support.

So, please distinguish between 'commercial / non-commercial' and 'open source/closed source'.  Even within those distinctions there is often great overlap; perhaps what you want is 'free as in beer' rather than 'free as in speech'...and, many of the 'commercial' products you are referring to are the same code as their 'community' version; the value being sold is support and other assistance or convenience.

As Andru mentioned RT has a commercial product that they sell as a fully supported version and in my opinion it is well worth it if within your budget.  That said, they also have a 'community' product that is free for the download as well as forum-style support for the open code, and the programmers work with said community to continuously improve the product.  If you are going to be using RT in a production environment and you do not feel confident that you can support the code on your own, buy the support.

  Just my .02, I have no connection to RT other than being impressed with the product and the people that created it.  





--- On Tue, 10/21/08, Andru Luvisi <luvisi at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Andru Luvisi <luvisi at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NBLUG/talk] [nblug] Help with locating good software
To: "General NBLUG chatter about anything Linux, answers to questions, etc." <talk at nblug.org>
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 8:53 AM

On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Matt Kirk <mkirk at sonic.net> wrote:
[snip]
> Kayako is a commercial support product but OTRS and RT are open source
> projects.
[snip]

RT is both commercial and Open Source.  Best Practical develops it
commercially (for the purpose of making a profit), supports it
commercially, and sells books for it commercially.

Andru

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