Thursday, June 07, 2007

Open Source vs Proprietary Software

I experienced this problem with Microsoft Money:
I really liked MS Money. I used it, kept track of my income and expenses, made a budget, and stayed on top of my financial situation. The last time I used MS Money, I upgraded, but didn't like the newer layout. I wanted to downgrade back to the previous version, but was informed that wasn't possible.

That's the problem with commercial software. I've got no problem with someone wanting to make money from writing software, but I have a huge problem with being locked out of my older files. Ever try opening a database file from the 90's with current commercial software? Good luck! By the way, I no longer use MS Money. Apart from the above problem, I wasn't too surprised to learn the the MS Money product has never turned a profit for Microsoft.

Thanks to the Nixternal Blog for posting this video, and explanation of the problem. This is something businesses should consider:

No comments: