Whenever I suggest using Free or Open Source software in a professional capacity my colleagues or managers usually claim that its not possible because it isn’t backed by a ‘reputable’ company. What they mean by this is that there isn’t anyone to sue if the software somehow misbehaves and causes some form of loss. As Mark Rasch so eloquently argues in his article if you’ve agreed to this kind of agreement you have no rights anyway. At any point your ‘rights’ to use software licensed in this fashion can be taken from you, no questions asked. And just try suing for any sort of loss caused by software licensed in this fashion.
If there isn’t a better reason to use Free/Open Source Software I don’t know of it – but please feel free to educate me via the comments.
The next time my boss tells me that we can’t use Python or PostgreSQL because there isn’t anyone to sue I’ll print out a copy of the article and give it to him. Why paper? Because he doesn’t read anything on a computer screen.