[ Thanks to Michael
S. Mimoso for this link. ]
“Is it ever good to be locked in to a
vendor?“Terpstra: Yes. If a vendor has offered to
customize the application to your business, is dependable,
reliable, cost effective, and both you and the vendor are very
happy, then why fear being locked in? At the end of the day, the
issues center around good relationships, trust, and a sound measure
of business exposure.“Milberg: I would say there are situations in
which it does not necessarily hurt to be locked in. A company can
have more leverage with its support vendor by largely using its
products. For example, big IBM shops will have the resources of a
billion-dollar company at [their] disposal. A company that is
strictly open source will have to rely strictly on its own and on
open source developers who really don’t care about the customer’s
service-level agreements (SLAs).“Greenblatt: The concept of lock-in is not
valid in today’s marketplace. A vendor who does not provide freedom
of choice to his customers will end up finding that customers will
select other products. It is important not to confuse financial
terms that enable a customer to use a product that has a very
attractive rate [with] that of functionality…”