Brendan Scott on TCO

[Bernhard Reiter]

Why Free Software's Long Run TCO must be lower
Brendan Scott 15 July 2002

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/brendanscott/papers/freesoftwaretco150702.html

Haven't fully read the paper yet, thus I don't know how good it is.
Still I've found paragraphs I liked already:

	Source code sharing arrangements where the source code for
	proprietary software is made available but not on a free software
	basis, are dangerous for users because of the viral nature of
	proprietary software.




      8.    Strategic implications for purchasers.

	(a) The short term costs of proprietary systems may be lower than
	those of free software systems. However, free software systems hold
	the advantage over the long term;

	[..]

	We note that these conclusions are independent of the fact
	or amount of any license fees charged in relation to the proprietary
	software.


Note that this seems to be an argumentation focussing on the
monentary aspect of software. There is also an ethical aspect to
Free Software which is important to companies and people 
on a higher strategic level.
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