Open source forces a dependence on the vendor's business plans - an issue too infrequently noted in the discussions I've seen.<br><br>In our case - as the developer of an Open Source dispatch software - we had user interest in integrating our package with asterisk, an Open Source pbx system. Now with that integration working, responding units and other authorized folks can update status information ("Press 1 for 'on-scene', etc. via text to speech) and will be able to get system summary information, etc. via cell phone.<br>
<br>Maybe yr commercial vendor is willing to take that on, but maybe not if they see the market potential as too limited.<br><br>A<br>