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"How much more user choice can you get than being able to modify the operating system and applications yourself? Without buying any sort of license, I've already modified the Firefox code to fit my needs. Could I do that with IE? Not a chance."

I'd like to see you run a full-fledged XML application downloaded from the internet in Firefox. Can you do that without going back to the server for data validation and full-fledged DOM access? No, you cannot validate the data and you only have partial DOM access. So guess what? To run an XML application using Firefox the additional costs of developing the software for installation on the server and the costs of server access, whether in money or performance, must be added.

Open source is still no benefit if it brings increased costs limited capabilities along with it.

Open source is still no benefit if it brings increased costs limited capabilities along with it.

Tried to talk the same sense into a company I recently did a project for. All they kept saying was "But, it's free!" They had two Linux cult members who fought me every step of the way and I eventually gave up.

To run an XML application using Firefox the additional costs of developing the software for installation on the server and the costs of server access, whether in money or performance, must be added.

The question is still openness. Could you modify Firefox to gain that capability? Definitely. Could you modify Windows or IE to gain capabilities they don't have? No.