Re: Need open source community help!

Why would people move away from a package they paid for already? Especially if it's backed up by another company - I'm guessing there's probably some maintenance contracts they will be signing. I'd suggest you (Jay) look at some other OS projects which may be more full-featured already, and show those. Chris is right - it depends somewhat on a timeline. But there's going to have to be some custom work to get things "just right", OR they will need to adapt the business to the software, instead of the software to the business. (which costs more in the long run?) re: Windows - I think you're being a bit hard on it. As much as I support Linux, etc., after a few weeks of teething a Windows setup, we've had it up and running without any major incidents in over a year. (SQL7) re: featureset - what kind of features do you not have that this other package has? Do you already have SQL7 in house? If not, you'll need to purchase SQL2000, which "seems" to be $5k. If you do named licensing, it may be a bit cheaper - depends on your company size. Plus the cost of the Win machine, if you don't already have that. Figure an extra $6k on top of the cost of the software. Is it worth $6k to have something next week, or can they wait another month while you feverishly add the missing features - "exactly to spec" - for a custom fit? --------------------------------------- Michael Kimsal http://www.tapinternet.com/php/ PHP Training Courses 734-480-9961 PHP List wrote:

IMO I would have to say it depends on the Timeline of your Boss. Releasing the app to the open source community would be great, the more there is, the more reason for people to stop using MS, but you can't demand a schedule of when new features will be added. You may have to go with the MS for now, and wait for your app to be developed with the new features, then convince your boss on moving to your software. You should be able to move all the data from one to the other without to much trouble. Chris