Open Source for businesses is a tactic, not a strategy. And open source projects are orthogonal to business products. Most of us are working on startups where

Open Source for businesses is a tactic, not a strategy. And open source projects are orthogonal to business products. Most of us are working on startups where it makes sense to leverage available open-source toolkits to solve problems rather than buying prefab solutions. But for larger and more established companies it has always been the case that service and support costs are the primary driver of decisionmaking. Businesses don't buy a box of bits labeled Oracle, they buy into the support structure that trains Oracle consultants and DBAs, and that ensures that they will be able to solve their data management problems using Oracle tools. To some extent it doesn't matter whether the underlying software is or is not open source, it matters whether the toolkit and the techniques that that software represents can be used to solve problems effectively. In situations where you need to be monkeying with the inner workings of your infrastructure; open source is a clear win, likewise when you are strapped for cash. But if you have cash on hand and a well supported solution that covers your use case; a packaged solution from a vendor may be a better value.