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- > It is not that bad!
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It is not that bad! 03 April 2009 17:53
Well, (at least) the first trap is not that bad. You see, the thing
is that you have the source code. Agree, you cannot modify it and get
support, but you know how it works. Thus, let's say that Example Inc.
has not fixed such and such bugs, ACME can still WORK AROUND the
problem. They know how the bugs are, so working around would not be
that hard. Then, when the official patches are out, they can remove
the work around, and still continue to enjoy the system.
On contrast, if the system is wholly closed-source, you don't know
how the bugs are, much less how to fix it. In that case, the
administrators must either break the EULA (reverse engineer the bugs)
or make blind guess to protect the system while waiting for the
patches. Lastly, in theory, partially-open source software should
have patches quicker.
Actually, I think this is very understandable: if I am to support
something, I want that thing to be manageable. I don't want to
support some wild code out there. For example, let's say that there
is a bug, and the bug-fix in the community version happens to break
some other parts, and the administrators then try to fix that other
parts (and may break some other parts). Imagine Example try to
support that! It is cruel!
This trap is, I would say, more or less a choice: either safety (I
would assume Enterprise version and its patches have much more
testing) or latest version. This is not necessary a trap.
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