Dear silicon.com... outsource vs insource, Naked CIO on open source, password overload…

First up this week, readers were engaging in debate over the pros and cons of outsourcing. Then we have silicon.com resident Naked CIO who has been ruffling some feathers again: this time, the issue of open source. And are you suffering from password overload? The results of our latest poll attracted some interesting comments…

Outsourcing vs insourcing?
Job boom: Indian outsourcing braced for eight million more

Outsourcing has so many benefits:

1. Cost savings
2. Time zone benefits
3. Quick turn around time
4. Standardising business processes

…and many more
-- tinasilvee, Naples

Outsourcing is more complex than it looks.

The Value Proposition of how you provision your outsourcing - 50 per cent cost = 50 per cent value.

The jurisdiction in the outsource country you choose will have much weaker data protection legislation than the EU.

Misunderstandings abound. And if I misunderstand your nuance when we share a culture, I will completely misread what you said when our cultures differ.

Insourcing offers fine grain management control over quality, shared time zones, resistance to infrastructural failure, data protection and the opportunity for face to face meetings if you share the same building.
-- Haydn Rees, London

Editor's choice

silicon.com editor Steve Ranger flags up his picks on the site this week...

♦ Video: How to manage tech complexity
♦ Photos: Beijing Olympics 2008 - tech keeping the games on track
♦ Video: Tackling security threats
♦ Photos: Robot warriors engage in battle
♦ Workers hit by password overload

Open source
The Naked CIO: Is open source dead?'

I think the Naked CIO is confusing open source with server and desktop OSs. Open source is everywhere - in routers, in switches, in storage arrays, as the base of all commercial virtualisation software.

In these places it has been repackaged as a "commercial" system, providing the standards that software developers need.

So open source is alive, well and growing - and the Naked CIO will undoubtedly be using it.
-- MadCabbage, South West

He dropped one here: "Having tried to manage open source environments, the degree to which rather eccentric - apologies for the generalisation - open source custodians and Unix engineers customise their environments creates extremely bulky systems and applications that are difficult to manage."

Does this imply that he hates Unix too? What on earth does he mean by "bulky"? Does "difficult to manage" imply he does not understand what is said to him by Unix administrators?
-- Andrew Robb, work

So what you are saying is you have no systems management experience on Unix or Linux systems, especially if you regard them as "bulky" - have you taken a look at Vista's hardware footprint recently?

So before you dismiss open source out of hand I suggest you acquire some expertise in the area yourself, if only so you can understand what your staff are doing.
-- Karen Challinor, UK

Password overload
Workers hit by password overload

Password managers will often be required where single sign on is not integrated to apps and devices.
-- Stuart Fawcett, London

I think a big problem is password expiry - the effect of these policies is, in my experience, equivalent to ensuring people use the minimum complexity passwords that will be accepted by the system.
-- John H Woods, UK

Please note, comments may be edited for clarity, grammar, spelling, punctuation and style. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of silicon.com. You can write to silicon.com by posting a Reader Comment below, or emailing editorial@silicon.com.