Independence (from your vendor) Day
232 years ago, it was the British that held a tight grip on the world. Today, it's your IT vendor.
The early American colonists found freedom in a long boat ride and a few thousand muskets pointed at their British brethren. For IT buyers today, it's much easier. All you have to do is download open-source software and you're immediately that much closer to IT freedom.
At my own open-source company, Alfresco, Adobe discovered increased flexibility and performance through open-source. Activision declared that it had saved "tens of millions of dollars" and dramatically boosted its marketing experience through open source.
That's just my own company. The University of Nebraska landed on the shores of "freedom and flexibility" in open-source Business Intelligence. Others have discovered that it's far too easy to waste millions of dollars on cumbersome, proprietary solutions that don't work.
So, today is your day to declare independence. Download your software of choice. Go on: No one can stop you! Implement it. No need for a license to do so! Pay for value, not for the gatekeeper to value (i.e., a license).
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
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