“Linus Torvalds went on record at the end of last week
saying that, within 3 years, software prices will have plummeted.
So – is he right? The answer, it would seem, lies in the value
which that software represents.“
“Value, so goes the adage, equates to benefits minus costs.
Traditionally the main use of computing power has been seen as to
reduce costs. More recently, the advent of the Web has enabled
businesses to dramatically increase benefits. By itself, IT is pure
cost, so it must be pitched against the resulting cost savings or
the increased business that it enables…”
“We recognise the advantages of each new generation of products,
we purchase and participate, we move up to the next rung of the
technological ladder. Despite all the advances, though, how far
have we come? Linux, for example, is based on operating system
principles and a language which were industry standard in 1969. As
for software, Object Oriented languages have been around for at
least that long…”