Anonymous

Boise, ID

media GM

The Dr.'s in this article did what open source is intended for - creating customized solutions. Why re-invent the wheel when someone else has worked out something close to what you want but not done EVERYTHING you need?

The upside to something like this is you get a custom solution developed for little actual cost. Certainly, the Dr.'s time is a "cost" in terms of accounting or if they were working for a software company. But in cases like this the Dr.'s most likely volunteered their time. Not only saving hard dollars but creating a sense of ownership and can contribute to increase in moral/teamwork/teambuilding.

Downsides are, of course, lack of support. Who do you call when the system breaks, gets hacked, or Dr. "computer" moves on? There in lies, what I think could be the future of some "software" companies. Rather than create the software, you rent out your open source troubleshooting team on a yearly basis.

I also like the Dr.'s answer to the iPod (or removable media) being a security threat.