Open source tools are the equivalent of Geek Merit Badges. The technoilluminati use them as chips to justify more money or as evidence of their skillz. Notwithstanding the information one can glean from a free software tool, they require a lot of time and effort to use AND most of the information is of no use to an executive or manager. IT managers and geeks love "free stuff" because it demonstrates that they're frugal and technically advanced. The "fly in the ointment" is that these tools only perpetuate the "smoke and mirror" charades played out by the incompetents. People see free and think of all the money they're saving but have no freaking idea if their systems, procedures and controls are actually working. In fact, the same geeks who use the free stuff may be stealing the company blind who are no wiser for all the so-called money they saved.

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