Open Software

I like to use it but sometimes the developers can say things that aren't especially bright. Take one of the people in charge of the Firefox project:

Even if we stopped supporting Windows 98, a company can support [Firefox on Windows 98] themselves as it is open source. This is one of the advantages of open source — you can avoid the forced update cycle.

No you can't. Self-supporting isn't free when you now have to pay that coder money to get the product you require. Granted you don't have to update, but chances are that updating due to loss of outside support is cheaper than paying a guy to keep the old code running. Unlike in open source, in the real world businesses have to pay people to code.

The new staffer might be cheaper if you are a large company with a larger install base. Still, if that is the case you are probably updating incrementally as new computers are inventoried in and out of the system. That way you are paying the same price for the new stuff as the old.