Thank you for your comments and for visiting my website.

Open source software should be evaluated alongside other options to ensure that consumers and community groups are receiving the best possible value for their IT requirements.

Thanks,

Alex

As I stated, open source software may not be for everyone but it does potentially have a role within community and non-profit based organisations.

Many people that contribute to open source software are in fact employed by IT companies, including Sun, Novel and even Nokia which now owns to toolkit used to produce KDE.

Many Linux distributions including openSUSE, Fedora and Ubuntu are in fact supported through Novel, Red Hat and Canonical respectively. Novel in particular is a major IT employer.

Consumers, including community groups, should be aware of the options that are available so that they can make an informed decision that best meets their needs.

Thanks,

Alex

Then in the current economic climate when we are being encouraged to spend do you think it is a good idea to be undermining our IT Markets. Do you realise how many people depend upon sales of Microsoft and similar commercial software products for their livelihood?