Free Software

[LeonardC]

Afternoon.

I was wondering. Why do you say free software is not really free?

Thanks

[eValid]

Afternoon.

I was wondering. Why do you say free software is not really free?

Thanks

Thanks for asking LeonardC.

Free and open-source software for years has been a very attractive option for software developers.

Many developers contribute small amounts of time to an open-source project, and the result is very powerful (and "free") software that is very effective. Such products tend to be very difficult to build -- and very difficult to use.

The open-source -- crowd-sourcing -- puts many minds onto a complex problem. The results are technically sophisticated -- but usually not terribly easy to use.

In the case of software testing tools, and for web testing tools in particular, the total cost of ownership is often the compelling issue.

Ease of use usually only obtains with professionally developed fully supported software -- such as eValid. You have to compare the costs of doing a project with professional software versus the added cost of having to learn,
adapt, modify, and ultimately apply software that comes from an open-source project.

If labor costs are free, then opensource is often a great solution. But what we hear from users is that eValid is so simple and so easy to use that it EASILY beats costs compared with the best open-source web testing tools.

-- eValid Support