Joe Barr Lays the Smack Down on OSS FUD

In his article: "Joe Barr rips proprietary software vendor a new one", Joe does exactly what the title states  :)

His article was a response to an earlier piece by Roger Greene (CEO of Ipswitch), where Roger says some very confused/uninformed things about Open Source software.

One thing Joe didn't rip was this excerpt from Roger Greene:

"The open source community claims bugs can be fixed faster for open source software than commercial software because hundreds, if not thousands, of people are looking at the code daily and can help with fixes. [ ... ] Even when those individuals generously offer their time for free, can you really afford to wait for one to agree with you on the urgency of action if your network is down?"

Huh?

That is a very odd and misleading way to look at it.  Open Source gives you the ability to modify the code yourself.  You don't have to wait for anyone.  You can hire a freelance developer or consultancy to fix it on the spot.  If you find a problem in a proprietary vendor's software, can you do the same?

No.. proprietary software puts you at the mercy of your vendor.