Hi all,

I was asked for an email interview for I&CS magazine. It is very difficult to represent a group as diverse as the list members here, but, I tried. If I get their permission, I will post the interview verbatim. I might have been a bit heavy on the Open Source philosphy and a little abrasive to the vendors, but, I make it clear that those are my opinions and that's why I am
doing this. My agenda is Open too. Since it's ludicrous that I could know and represent everybody's views this early in the process, your comments (flames) are welcome so we can present an accurate and united face to the media.

Regards

Curt Wuollet,
Widae Open Technologies


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Go for it Curt. My take on the open source thing is that it is an enabler. It provides a means of having a common infrastructure from which many can build. Since things like the OS, printer drivers, etc,... are open source they are available to everybody and are no longer a competitive advantage. This allows the competitors to focus on what they do best; provide innovative solutions to their customers
problems.

In the past only very large corporations and governments could afford to provide the necessary infrastructure, thus smaller competitors were
prevented from entering the market place.

With the open source infrastructure smaller competitors are able to provide solutions to clients who in the past went without because of the expense or the lack of solution providers.

I worked my way through university by repairing industrial scales. Several years ago my old friends who still service scales had a project
which could have used a PLC to control some traffic lights or something. They got a quote of 50-60k from AB. Since the project only had about 15K in it total they resorted to a couple of $5.00 relays and concluded that PLCs were too expensive for their clients.

Well Curt if you find any of the above useful please fell free to use it in your interview. Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

regards

rick

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