Why I hate OSS

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Ok if you don't know I'm a programmer. I work in .NET mostly doing asp.net in C# and some vb.net stuff. My company has this project where we need some rich text capability in a web browser. So we look around and decide on the Free Text Box. We download the code, it inserts into the project with little work, and works great out of the box. A bit later on we need to make some changes to it. Turns out we need to remove problem html out of the text of the box before it saves to the DB. Try the standard javascript tricks document.getclientid sutff, no go. Google some answers and try the results, no go. I spend a ton of time pouring over the properties, yada yada yada and nothing. Finally I find one property that might, might do the trick. I then spend time changing all the controls in the project to use this property correctly. Typical OSS shit, no documentation from the creators, online help says RTFM n00b!!, well there is no manual dickhead. At least when I buy something from infragistics or component art I get fucking support. I can pick up the phone, post on a message board with people who know what the fuck is going on, and get an answer. Problem solved but it took way longer then it should have.



Ok rant's over, but seriously if OSS ever wants to become more then hobby time for nerds it needs to get professional. I'm really starting to think you get what you pay for is true more and more.

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