At 08:28 PM 15/02/2006, you wrote:

>Does it make good business sense to pay for a commercial database
>product when well-established, open-source versions pose enticing
>alternatives? A growing migration away from commercial software
>suggests that, for many customers, it does not.
>
>http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=41585

This is the funniest bit: (in argument for commercial and against
free/open source):

"The major vendors invest significant resources into stabilizing a
code base and performing quality assurance before shipping anything,
he said. In an open-source environment, there is much less control
over code changes and less ability to focus on quality assurance, as
these matters are usually financed through license revenue after the
initial release."

Let's re-phrase that: :-)

"The major vendors invest significant resources into excuses for the
high price of keeping the service patches ahead of the CERT notices
and for not stabilizing a code base or performing quality assurance
before shipping anything, he said. In an open-source environment,
there is much less control over code changes and no opportunity for a
hungry management to yell "Release and be damned! Let the users
focus on quality assurance, and let's screw 'em some more through
license revenue after the initial release."

H.