That's a fair point. I don't think the issue is that open source software has fewer dead ends--it's easy to adopt an open source tool that later loses critical

That's a fair point. I don't think the issue is that open source software has fewer dead ends--it's easy to adopt an open source tool that later loses critical mass--but rather that proprietary hardware+software combinations result in a distinctly frustrating outcome of "my hardware still works, but the software is no longer supported".