Is is not incomparably faster to fix a problem in an open source component than it is to write a full replacement for it? Would your employer not prefer to see

Is is not incomparably faster to fix a problem in an open source component than it is to write a full replacement for it? Would your employer not prefer to see you spend a few days digging through source and submitting a patch upstream than spend many weeks writing a text layout engine from scratch? The result is the same (working text layout), but the time (== money) required is substantially less in the open source situation. I get your argument for a closed platform where you have a direct phone line to its developers that will fix any platform bugs you find ASAP, but MSFT hasn't been that kind of platform for years...