I think what @mcdanlj means is that on proprietary software you only have the option to trust the developers, because the source code is closed but on open source, every skilled dev can search for vulnerabilities and report or fix it.
I really mean more than that. I have had responsibility for security in open source, large enterprise proprietary software, and SaaS. This software has in general spanned decades of development (modulo SaaS being a more recent popular trend).
The mechanisms of delivering security and other aspects of quality are different, but my overall experience is strongly and categorically at odds with @donkjr’s.
I’m not opposed to proprietary software. I continue to work on both open source and proprietary software. I have a lot of experience in both worlds.
I hear that @donkjr was part of an organization that may have had an experience of actually being better than a particular open source alternative, or perhaps merely used FUD as a weapon against open source competition, I don’t have data to know which. Overall, organizations that have figured out how to do something more constructive regarding open source, whether it’s embracing it or integrating with it or making it part of their strategy, have delivered more value to users than the ones that pretend that they don’t use any open source software. Spoiler alert: they do.
Ultimately, I’m glad we’re running Discourse not (say) xenforo here.
It’s not clear to me that MakerForums is the best place to debate open source vs proprietary, and I think I should just stop responding at some point. A thread on which it became clear that the proprietary offering is the one with the trivially stupid bug that has clearly been present for years may not have presented the best “hill to die on” in support of a position that proprietary software is ipso facto higher quality than open source. But to each his own!
@mcdanlj In the above posts, I simply voiced an opinion based on actual experience.
None of my experienced based opinions was intended to suggest enterprise software is always better than open-source or visa versa.
It is interesting to digest others’ experiences and perspectives. It is not useful when the discussion turns accusatory.
You never actually “heard” this from me …!
You are entitled to your opinion based on your experience and I am always interested in an alternative perspective.
However, if you don’t have the data to make an accusation then including it in the discussion provides no useful context!
As you suggested I am also leaving this debate.