The concept of Open Source is generally seen as a good idea. But it's more than just a sympathetic concept and open source applications can offer substantial advantages over 'closed source' applications. So why is it that open source applications are only slowly gaining market share? A recent personal experience might provide some insight.

At the foundation where I work, we've set about to implement a new information management tool. This foundation is dedicated to stimulating innovation, which means that we encourage entrepreneurs and researchers to get off the beaten track and invest in innovative projects. So, our first thought was to do the same and have a look at several innovative companies who can offer a good product for us. And to include companies with open source applications for information management in the mix. Open source is, after all, a methodolgy that promotes innovation.

Several talks with salesmen have since taken place and I'm getting a picture of what's available in the market. We've not yet made definite choice, and I'm not ruling out any options, but one thing is very clear at this stage: the presentation of people who sell Microsoft Sharepoint software is pretty convincing.

And this leaves me in somewhat of a dilemma: my heart shouts 'innovation and open source', but my mind says 'sharepoint'. So what causes the preference? Like I said, it's mostly the presentation. The innovative companies chose to highlight the ins and outs of their technology, while the Sharepoint sellers chose to show examples of applications they'd already built. Yes, technology is interesting, but for making the choice, other factors are more important. When you show a secretary how you can merge addresses from the database into a batch of letters with just one mouseclick, that settles the deal for her. And, as a project leader, I want to know if we can manage the process within a reasonable time and for a reasonable amount.

I do think that Open Source developers will learn the tricks of the trade soon and come up with better sales pitches. More importantly, what choice we will eventually make is still open. Because we do have to take the cost factor into account. And that includes the building of the application, as well as the license. And I'm sure that Microsoft will have a pretty tough case convincing us there.

Damien