[d_theorist]

I think it's mostly about support and SLAs. Some people like to know that if something goes wrong there's a vendor they can shout at.

[sigio]

Sadly though, shouting at a vendor doesn't fix your issues within a couple of hours, and downtime can be a pain.

Running Linux/*BSD/Whatever on off-the-shelf boxen which you can pickup everywhere (and have cheap spares) and fix yourself will let you get back online quickly.

[blowski]

If it's not your money you're spending, then the support contract helps take the heat off you when there are problems. Also, the junior staff can do things when there are problems and you're not in the office.

[detaro]

And it is easier to get someone external, e.g. from an MSP, in to fix or rebuild something.

[nucleardog]

> Sadly though, shouting at a vendor doesn't fix your issues within a couple of hours

It does if your support contract is expensive enough.