[jaddison]

I'd say that if you're buying an off the shelf program, it's likely because implementing it would take FAR longer than the (example) 3 hours to investigate their proprietary API.

I think there is still a valid trade-off in purchasing - it just has to make sense, is all. If the problem is big enough that it's unwieldy enough (ie. take too long to develop and TEST internally), then it definitely makes sense to investigate 3rd party options.

That said, developing internally is sometimes the only answer: when you don't get a good feeling from the 3rd party options (based on research), when the 3rd party cost is too high, etc.

Of course... it's usually more fun to develop internally. :)