Strikes me as somewhat odd that someone of such long-standing as Whil should make such a public statement and recycle the arguments about the pro's and con's of open source solutions, without actually making a convincing argument of his own.

Perhaps he felt the need to rebel against the society in which he has made a decent living for quite a number of years. Perhaps it would have been better if he had kept his thoughts to himself.

Who's next then? I note comments in FP Advisor a few months back from Tamar advocating the OpenOffice product. These public proclamations by well-respected individuals are intriguing and clearly get noticed by those who count on their support. It's a bit like the magazines running articles about how bad a product is, then having to publish a hasty retraction when their advertising department gets a call from the offended party.

What goes around comes around Whil, so you'd better be prepared.

Simon