Yeah, even if that "distraction" happens to be a web browser on your second monitor so you can code web apps on a dual monitor setup. That "distraction" is gone now, and your second monitor now goes dark..gee how thoughtful of them. #1 reason I am not upgrading to Lion.

Don't assume just because the office is small that downtime due to hardware failures is any less devastating to their business. I've had more than one "small office" learn this lesson after I argued that they shouldn't skimp on the redundancy just because it's expensive.

"How much does is cost if your employees are sitting around doing nothing for 2 days waiting for parts to arrive to fix your mission-critical server?"

Exactly right. Wish I had mod points for this. One of the numerous advantages of many open source solutions is that they are designed by hackers and when things go wrong, usually there are very distinct error messages and good logging capabilities. Coupled with some googling and/or IRC rooms, things usually get resolved very quickly. If you're a hacker yourself, you can usually resolve issues pretty quickly.

A common experience for me with closed source has been more along the lines of a message-box-only delivery of a very random error message with no other clues to go on. At that point you are at the mercy of the profit-motivated corporation's support center who has often outsourced their support operations. You'll have to fight for days or weeks jumping through meaningless hoops before you get your support case escalated to someone who can actually give you a correct answer.

That said, there is another edge to that sword. Being designed by hackers often means that unless you are a hacker yourself or have made smart choices in hiring one, you might find yourself struggling to maintain it because you don't have the skills to also manage the other open-source systems they build upon ( e.g. Database, http server, external libraries ). This can be solved usually by hiring people familiar with the open source world, but I can understand that it's tough to make a switch once you've hired a staff who is accustomed to the pointy-clicky way of doing things.

Yes indeed, witness the O.J. SImpson criminal trial.. Oh wait..

I like "phobophobia" better.

I'll agree. I was a loyal customer for 15 years. Their support was absolutely top notch. I never had to wait more than 10 seconds when calling them and only once did I ever need to escalate a call beyond the first person to answer.

I think this is what put them out of business. The PC industry is a race to the bottom. Price is king these days and if you aren't willing to sacrifice your quality in the name of more profits, you will be replaced by someone else who is.

This is a very sad day for me.