Open Source Myths Revisited

Like a lot of folks, I think OSS is pretty cool but that's about as far as I go.  I, like most people, don't like using stuff that sucks and if there's something better that I can afford, I'll usually opt for it.  With OSS often times you have a choice where the 'better' product is 'free'.  Free in the sense that you don't have to fork over a credit card number to use it.  But everyone knows that nothing is free - so in those instances it's actually, cheaper.  But in many cases it isn't.  This isn't a hard thing to understand.  Windows is going to be a lot cheaper for Grandma even if it costs $500.00 b/c her time is limited and the learning curve for linux is going to be a lot greater than for Windows.  But that is so obvious it amazes me people argue it.  And no one really does except for the brain dead “I'm scared to learn anything new” VB 6 programmer or the Angst filled “If you do it different then me you're STUPID” OSS Zealot.  There's plenty of room for both in the world - it's a big place and software adoption is still well in its infancy.  But I tend to find a lot of OSS zealots - not OSS Developers but zealots - the ones that refuse to believe there's merit in anyone else's viewpoints - annoying.  And I'm definitely not alone.  But Neil does a great job http://www.neilgunton.com/open_source_myths/ rebutting some common myths.