A discussion I'm often having is around developing with, and development of open source software, and how it compares with it's retail rivals.  I'm sure I started using open source software, like most other honest folk, out of necessity: I could no way afford Adobe Design Suite, or Maya, for instance.  So, my learning curve was equipt with the likes of Gimp, Inkscape, Blender, etc.  This eventually leads me into working with these tools professionally, and reluctant to use the retail alternatives.  So, is it a question of being "what you get used to"?  People I've worked with, who've grown up with snide copies of retail products, howl like banshees at the thought of using Gimp instead of Photoshop, or Inkscape instead of Illustrator.  However, most closet creatives I come across still use snide versions of retail software.  I was always told by my wise elders, that "if you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas!"  That has always been my opinion regarding "file sharing".

Another argument, from the retail camp is that you get better support.  If you like pressing various select buttons on you phone, followed by the hash key, in the optimistic hope that you might actually get to speak to a human being, then yes.  I think that community support works much better, and it's quite rare to come across an issue that's not already been resolved by other community members.

Obviously, the main advantage of open source is the rapid development of it's technologies.  Compare app development for Android as opposed to WebOS.  Communities by their very nature get involved.

It goes without saying which camp I'm in, but I'd be very interested in hearing any opinions you might have about any of this....