Dares to differ?

Damned right! Open source of closed...it doesn't matter. To consumers - as well as a great many businesses - what matters is that it works. Preferably that it works without breaking the bank. (What good is something that works if you can't afford it?) Similarly, it has to work in a user-friendly and easy to understand way, because absolutely nobody wants to spend money on IT bodies. (We're a black-hole cost-center, don'tchaknow.)

I posit that no programming model, licensing model, form factor, UI, company, business model, individual personal charm or /anything else/ is a sacred cow. Everything and everyone are only worth what they can accomplish. (Though I will accept that sentient beings have a base rate value and a minimum level of respect and rights attendant to that concept regardless of external circumstances such as education, wealth, experience or other mitigating factors.)

If open source won’t do the job, then it has no value. If Apple is too locked down, then it gets left by the wayside. If Microsoft is charging to much for CALs and integration and secondary products required to make it work, then you ditch ‘em. Nothing is sacred anymore…it’s a big wild world out there and if you want my money then you had damned well better prove to me why your widget/software/wetware is better than how I do things now. If you can’t do that beyond some steaming turd like “the philosophy behind the programming/licensing model/what we feed the programmer’s bet chinchilla is superior to our competition” then don’t waste my time.

Be better adapted to your environment than the competition or else just go home.