How can I convince conventional colleagues to venture out into the open source domain? I have worked in large private companies, many are reluctant to adopt any open source libraries for any level of service.
I have for years endeavoured to introduce open source libraries as
- an external modular “package” that provides an array of features
- an efficient and up to date numerical computation approach to data
- social friendly manner to evolve company's products, services and capabilities
- interface to other groups of users who can result in inter-disciplinary collaborations
- decentralising control.
However, the I have received the following list of negative feedback about open source, some of which is true but delving further into them, it appears to me that some of these points are found in closed source software. The major perogative in closed source was making money through patent royalties, licensing etc.
- It is insecure and has no guarantees
- It is creates confusion in interfacing legacy libraries with open source libraries
- It is appallingly "buggy" with no support or updates.
- it is incompatible with the target hardware
- products and services that are free are misleading and cannot be trusted