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"You never get anything for free." I remember my parents telling me this when I was a kid – and it's proven true time and time again. Why, then, do companies continue implementing Open Source solutions based on the argument that it's "affordable" or "free"? Sure, the initial investment is zero but the long-term cost is most definitely not. The IT/development costs associated with difficult implementations and software lacking in usability are often astronomical, support and service is either non-existent or very expensive – and even documentation can be an added expense. (One of our developers recently compared integrating and using a particular open source solution to Windward Reports as "suicidal vs. partying" – and the entire development team agreed with him!) The bottom line is that Open Source will never be the best product offering because there's no investment backing it.
A solution that is not continuously updated – and supported – is costing your business even more. A poor user interface alone will cost thousands per year in lost productivity and IT expense. And any solution that requires you to have training to use it is an endless money drain. Every time someone leaves or you need to add another user, it's going to cost you.
Remember: Any company that has built a business model on an Open Source solution has to be making money somehow/somewhere – or they wouldn't be in business.
Take a close look at "free". It's costing more than you realize.
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