CFO Questions and Answers

Open Source Software (OSS) is an economically viable and sustainable solution to the expensive problems in Business Systems.

• OSS is more reliable, usually free of cost and it gives the freedom to examine and modify the source code.
• OSS avoids the problems of Microsoft crashes, viruses and the "lock-in" of proprietary software to limited choices.
• With the large community of support and development for OSS, improvements are quickly made and installed for far less cost, and there are more choices available.

When a CFO considers Linux and Open Source Software, these are the most frequently asked questions:

1. What is the risk?
   The biggest risk is not being able to run legacy applications. Fortunately, there are many ways to provide compatibility with Windows-based applications. The best option is to migrate the applications to Linux and take full advantage of the efficiencies of Open Source Software. This frees your company from the "lock-in" of proprietary systems. One might say the biggest risk is not moving to Open Source, and being locked into proprietary software systems.
2. Will it be cheaper?
   Amazon.com cut costs by $17 million in 2001 by switching to the Linux operating system. Merrill Lynch research shows that implementing Linux internally could save the company millions of dollars. In fact, the highest cost was in managing traditional Windows infrastructure.
3. Who will support the system?
   Iron Mountain Foundry maintains a network of technicians, engineers and specialists in the Pacific Northwest. The same people who migrate your systems and develop your software will be available to support your system and provide enhancements. In addition, there is the support of major corporations like Red Hat, MySQL, IBM, HP, Novell and Dell Computer.

Recommended Reading The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source This volume is a manager's guide to navigating the new Open Source development paradigm. It takes a business look at Linux and Open Source and explains to managers how to successfully deploy Linux in the enterprise. It also examines the impact of the Open Source paradigm on the software industry.