While the source code of open source is indeed open and free, if you need support … you will pay, according to these first-hand accounts. As in life, nothing in IT comes free. Support seems to be the hidden cost of open source and possibly its Achilles heel when it comes to widespread business adoption.
“Imagine spending $10,000 per developer on a tool that lets you draw diagrams and then generate EJB code. Now imagine four months down the road, someone writes a better tool and releases it for free as open source,” says the Weblog’s author Eric Burke. “Do you think you could convince your management to dump the expensive tool and switch to the open source tool?”
See the answers here.