computoman

Having been an administrator, my job was to keep software updated and running. At the time the OS we used was just upgraded and many applications no longer worked. Of course you were on the phone with the vendor. The answer we got most was we have to wait an see what the OS vendor was going to do. That is not the answer students want to here when not being able use the software to get their class es done. One particular vendor had software I could fix if they would let me modify it. The application vendor threatened to sue my employer an me if any changes were made. Between a rock and a hard place. All was eventually worked out but quite a few students wanted to strangle the IT team. That really happens with proprietary software. With open source software in most cases it is not a problem. You can modify the source code to solve issues quickly and effectively. Most of all the major distros have source code repositories for just that. Also to consider:

The one thing, I like about linux is that it is on so many hardware platforms. Source code can easily in most cases used on all the platforms. Also known as portability of code. That gives you a lower cost of software and it's support. Another company that used to brag about its return on investment (aka ROI) has fallen silent on the subject. I can still run up to date software on my older machines via linux and bsd without in most cases getting new hardware. That is great for keeping it IT budget controllable. Now that 32 bit systems are being phased out that may not be so true, but I can keep cranking a bit longer with my so called obsolete systems.