"There's no support" is one of the common anti-open source software arguments. I could start by saying we support 350+ open source software projects and we aren't the only ones in the business. But the real reason I think people say there isn't any support for open source software is because the open source software support model is different than the proprietary model. If you buy Quicken or Microsoft Exchange, it's pretty obvious who you are going to buy your support from. You can call them up and get a quote. And that's it. One provider, all the plans detailed and compared to each other on one piece of paper. Open source, on the other hand, has lots of choices.
- Do it yourself using the mailing lists.
- Hire someone from the community to support it for you.
- Purchase commercial support for individual OSS packages.
- Purchase commercial support from a consolidated OSS support company.