Astaro calls plain English the open source vendor value-add

This is important given that Astaro is not an open source company. They have a commercial license, and a portal you can use to manage your Astaro licenses.

Astaro does, however, use open source as well as proprietary code in their products. This is why they wrote the report, which we here at ZDNet call a "whitepaper" but Astaro calls an "orange paper" because, well, orange is their thing.

The report, by product evangelist Angelo Comazzetto (above), is notable in its use of plain English and its identification of plain English as a major impediment to the adoption of open source in the enterprise.

Plain English is where vendors add value worth paying for, he notes. Plain English documentation, screens which can be understood by people who only use plain English, and of course plain English white orange papers and marketing materials.

There's irony here. Plain English newspapers complain bitterly of the competition generated by open source and the Internet it is built on. Yet plain English is the real value-add commercial developers provide for open source software.

Oh, and y'all should know that ZDNet bloggers specialize in plain English, with many available for part-time hire.