Jim,
I agree with you to an extent. A lot of open source projects so lack some of the sparkle as there closed counterparts. There is a lot to be said for the total cost of entrance being nothing for open source projects. For instance MySql and PostgreSql are very powerful database servers that rival MSSql. For the hobby web developer that wants to right database driving dynamic web apps. But who can not afford a very expensive MSSql licenses.
As far a functionality goes. I will make one departure. For years the would of Telephony has been closed and controlled buy the big Telcom equipment vendors. You can not buy a PBX now for under $12,000. On top of that since they are proprietary you only have a limited amount of reconfigurability. Along come Asterisk the Open Source PBX. I could go on for days about the benefits of Asterisk. The point is that the cost to enter the world of Telephony is nothing (Unless you want to connect to the PTSN. In that case you need some special hardware. But nothing as expensive and unreliable as something from NorTel, ROLM, or Siemens) With that said I leave you with a couple of passages from
Asterisk: The Future of Telephony
NOTE: The below quoted book was published by O'reilly Media under the Creative Commons Licenses.
[quote] The Problems with Traditional Telephony
Although Alexander Graham Bell is most famously remembered as the father of the
telephone, the reality is that during the latter half of the 1800s, dozens of minds were
working toward the goal of carrying voice over telegraph lines. These people were
mostly business-minded folks, looking to create a product through which they might
make their fortunes.
We have come to think of traditional telephone companies as monopolies, but this was
not true in their early days. The early history of telephone service took place in a very
competitive environment, with new companies springing up all over the world, often
with little or no respect for the patents they might be violating. Many famous monopolies
got their start through the waging (and winning) of patent wars.
It’s interesting to contrast the history of the telephone with the history of Linux and
the Internet. While the telephone was created as a commercial exercise, and the telecom
industry was forged through lawsuits and corporate takeovers, Linux and the Internet
arose out of the academic community, which has always valued the sharing of
knowledge over profit.
317
The cultural differences are obvious. Telecommunications technologies tend to be
closed, confusing, and expensive, while networking technologies are generally open,
well-documented, and competitive.
Closed Thinking
If one compares the culture of the telecommunications industry to that of the Internet,
it is sometimes difficult to believe the two are related. The Internet was designed by
enthusiasts, whereas contributing to the development of the PSTN is impossible for
any individual to contemplate. This is an exclusive club; membership is not open to
just anyone.*
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) clearly exhibits this type of closed
thinking. If you want access to its knowledge, you have to be prepared to pay for it.
Membership requires proof of your qualifications, and you will be expected to pay
thousands of dollars to gain access to its library of publications.
Although the ITU is the United Nations’s sanctioned body responsible for international
telecommunications, many of the VoIP protocols (SIP, MGCP, RTP, STUN) come not
from the hallowed halls of the ITU, but rather from the IETF (which publishes all of
its standards free to all, and allows anyone to submit an Internet Draft for
consideration).
Open protocols such as SIP may have a tactical advantage over ITU protocols, such as
H.323, due to the ease with which one can obtain them. Although H.323 is widely
deployed by carriers as a VoIP protocol in the backbone, it is much more difficult to
find H.323-based endpoints; newer products are far more likely to support SIP.
The success of the IETF’s open approach has not gone unnoticed by the mighty ITU.
It has recently become possible to download up to three documents free of charge from
the ITU web site.†Openness is clearly on its minds. Recent statements by the ITU suggest
that there is a desire to achieve “Greater participation in ITU by civil society and
the academic world.â€Â
