I implemented The Hobbit Monitor where I work. Actually, its called Xymon now because of a copyright complaint (who knew?!) but I digress...

We monitor basic to complex information of about 5000 machines and a handful of NAS devices. It is a server/client setup, and highly customizable: an evolution of the Big Brother monitor from days of yonder. The histories can go back indefinitely, and all the configuration is done by flat-files: helpful if you like to roll-your-own automatic configuration tool.

It is pretty basic out of the box, but the way it is implemented makes it very easy to track whatever you want and write your own tests: from simple bash and perl scripts, to c programs with api hooks into your applications.

We didn't go with Nagios because it initial testing showed it was very chatty and the interface was unintuitive. I happen to like the easy 'smiley face good, frowning face bad' for taking a quick glance at our infrastructure.

If you want to talk "protecting the interests of the shareholders"...

Why does no one ever say THIS is the reason Microsoft creates crappy software?

As a corporation, Microsoft does not make most of it's billions in the software they create, rather the services and support they sell alongside those products.

Also, as a corporation, they are required BY LAW to act in the interest of their shareholders. So, if Microsoft was to create a beautifully written, bug-free software product, they would be doing their shareholders a disservice because not many people want support for software that works.

As crazy as that sounds, if you think about it's not too far off. In my opinion, THIS is why open source software is better, because they aren't legally obligated to keep bugs in the system just so they get their support contracts renewed.