Everything tbray says is correct, but I had the feeling I'd heard this before. Then I realized, this post is a combination of Gall's law "all working complex sy

Everything tbray says is correct, but I had the feeling I'd heard this before. Then I realized, this post is a combination of Gall's law "all working complex systems evolved from working simple systems", and Joel's advice of "never outsource core competencies" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galls_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galls_law http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000007.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000007.html