XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: znu@fake.invalid   
      
   In article ,   
    Gordon  wrote:   
      
   > On 17/11/2010 10:46, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:   
   > >   
   > >   
   > > Or you could experience the version of obsolescence that Microsoft laid   
   upon   
   > > its "Plays For Sure" partners when it stuck the Zune knife in their backs.   
   > >   
   >   
   > I agree, but the point of this (sub) thread, until the idiot Hardon   
   > tried to change it, is that if a software vendor goes bust, (and I've   
   > seen this happen, no matter what the moron quark thinks), and the data   
   > from the particular application sold by that Vendor (in this case   
   > accounting software) is in a proprietary (to that application) format,   
   > then it's going to be either very very expensive, or possibly   
   > impossible, for an SME to get that data ported to some other format.   
      
   The problem can be nearly as bad if you happen to be using OSS software   
   that gets abandoned, which is not exactly unheard of for less mainstream   
   projects.   
      
   Yes, in theory you could keep developing the software yourself, but in   
   practice few small or medium sized businesses will have the resources to   
   make this practical, particularly if they're in markets entirely   
   unrelated to software development.   
      
   About the only way to avoid this is to exclusively use software (open or   
   closed) that uses data formats that are already widely supported by many   
   different products. Unfortunately, this is not an option in some product   
   categories.   
      
   --   
   "The game of professional investment is intolerably boring and over-exacting to   
   anyone who is entirely exempt from the gambling instinct; whilst he who has it   
   must pay to this propensity the appropriate toll." -- John Maynard Keynes   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)