First of all, it is remarkable that some one from SAP is even talking about "free" software, as Jeff Nolan does in his post No Money Down, Zero Percent Financing
But it is like Eva Peron at peak of power empathizing about the slums of Argentina... nice, touching story but little action.
Forget free. SAP and other enterprise software vendors could make 2, 5, 10% adjustments in a number of areas and things would be so much better. Evolution is always better than revolution.
Rethink the price list. To get 80+% discounts today you have to be willing to write SAP a multi-million dollar check. Average discounts are still in the sixties - a far cry from free.
Even if SAP substantially discounted core ERP, the majority of its licensing cost now comes from various "engines" - many industry specific, and to me a major reason why so many customers find building or maintaining legacy vertical functionality a better option.
For every dollar in discounted license you are still committing to another dollar in maintenance over the next 4-5 years. SAP offers cut rate TomorrowNow maintenance pricing to Oracle customers, but not to its own customers. How's that for empathy?
You are easily talking about many more dollars in SAP training, systems integration partners etc. SAP can complain but has not done much to whip its partners in to the new world pricing reality. Then you have constant fixes, service packs, upgrades.
No - SAP need not think about free. But it (and Oracle) and other vendors can do so much better - small adjustments in a number of areas of the software TCO.
Quit singing. Start implementing. The masses are getting restless.
