[K12OSN] OT: Open Source counter-arguments

[ahodson]

Hi fellow k12osn - hope you have a few minutes to read and contribute in 
helping build a counter argument to the post below. I am looking to see
1) has anybody seen these arguments before (authenticity)
2) are you in a position to share counter-arguments 
(data/experiences/logic)?
3) Do you know of scholarly sources to accomplish #2?
========================== post ============================
"Here is what I have seen from the Open Source Community:

MOST, not all, of the programs are a generation or two BEHIND their 
commercial counterparts. That is because the open source community is 
not so much innovative, rather imitative. They wait and see what the big 
guys are doing and then imitate it. So, if you want to be a generation 
behind, then you use open source. So be it. That is not a bad thing. 
However, I prefer to be on the edge, for the most part.

IN essence, the OS community uses the software companies as their R&D 
arms, waiting to see what the next innovation will be that they can 
write into their software. They then copy the innovation, let it go into 
the open source world, and say "look how good we are at making something 
that is ALMOST like the original."

Sounds fair huh?

Look at GIMP for instance. Whenever Adobe comes out with the latest 
Photoshop, THEN the GIMP community comes out with an update that tries 
to match the feature set. Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not. But, 
GIMP is NOT Photoshop. That is because Photoshop, like many other 
commercial programs, have an ecosystem built around them that simply 
cannot be  matched by the OS community. Plug Ins, peripherals, books, 
training video, websites, all revolve around the commercial products.

I can get something that MAY be like the plug in I want to use in 
Photoshop, but to say a program IS JUST LIKE another program is in fact, 
a terrible misstatement.

Is a Steak at Ruths Chris Steakhouse the same as a steak at Golden 
Corral? No, it is not. Yes, they are both steaks, but they are not the 
same. The experience is different, the taste is different. Yes, they 
will both fill you up, but...

Finally, you cannot be in any conversation with an OS person without 
these words being uttered: "Why should we pay Microsoft for this or 
that?" Interesting. Why pay for anything? Why pay Dell for hardware? Why 
pay AT&T for connectivity? Why pay EXXON for gas? I don't understand the 
aversion to having to pay for something. The entire economy of the free 
world is based on this. You pay for goods and services.

I always go back to the book [], the Cathedral and the Bazaar: A book 
about how paying for software was so bad...
Cost of the Book: $18.00.

It seems paying for something is okay, as long as it is OS stuff..."
====================== end of post ===================================
Thanks for the help
Alan
El Paso TX
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