This - the people involved actually giving a shit - is exactly why FOSS projects' volunteer support (on IRC, for example) regularly trumps the crud experience y

This - the people involved actually giving a shit - is exactly why FOSS projects' volunteer support (on IRC, for example) regularly trumps the crud experience you get from huge, established, and deep-pocketed vendors of alternative products that are astonishingly expensive. Ironically, often the most extreme in the "support" contract department.