People are ready to curse an open source company that for one reason or another decides not to make some of it’s software open source, yet praise a proprietary software company that all of a sudden makes it’s smiley creator open source. Canonical sponsors Ubuntu but that does not equal an obligation to release every line of code under an open source license . Canonical has a business model , Landscape is the clear example. The intentions are to continue the support for Ubuntu and make it the best option in the server market, while at the same time sell services based on the platform at a price. Yes, it would be great if Landscape was available with out the purchase of a license but that’s what open source is all about if you don’t like it move on or create / find another solution. Any administrator worth his or her pay will find a no cost solution. Business client now have the opportunity to buy a solution direct from the source simplifying the process. On another note ill informed IT managers who claim open source companies are everything but serious have lost one of their many arguments. We have options in the software world, some refuse to adopt Ubuntu because it’s not open enough instead they use Debian. Freedom of choice. If you still have a problem understanding this concept think of it this way, the operating system is downloaded from this site http://www.ubuntu.com/ and support is bought from this site http://www.canonical.com/ . By the way have you look at the cost of buying support from Canonical?, it’s everything but expensive.
canonical, landscape — Nov 1, 2008