T3.6K - I think that you give company exectives a lot of credit here!
I wish that CTOs and their employees had more time to investigate and research open-source solutions like Joomla but the reality that Mr. Smith describes is most likely what is taking place in corporate offices around the world today. Joomla evangelists (like myself) are actively involved with the developments of the project but we can't expect companies seeking tech solutions to have time to research all the solutions available. As Mr. Smith points out, issues like the recent breakup in $ambo / Joomla world exponentially increase the time it takes to get a firm handle on what is available and what the full story is with the solution.
If a commercial solution breaks you call the company you purchased it from for support. We have long heard this argument for Micro$oft (ASP) as opposed to PHP and other open-source languages. As a result, Zend (the company behind PHP) has been spending a LOT of time developing support and training networks to help respond to this issue. The $ambo Foundation was originally intended to create these networks for $ambo but with the breakup there has been no time to focus on these issues for Joomla. This is a major hurdle in Joomla's race to success, IMHO.
Another issue is that many companies I've spoken with do not want to be on the "bleeding edge" when it comes to their technology solutions. Open-source solutions are perceived to be closer to this edge than commercial solutions. Companies generally seek a relationship with a reputable provider to develop a custom solution thus maintaining this myth of stability and flexibility. Many companies have found out sooner than later that their custom solution is very expensive and its stability and flexibility to be entirely dependent on the solutions provider's staff and project load.
Lucky for us this is where the Joomla community comes in! We can counteract the effects of these fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) tactics of commercial solutions by creating great materials for our local evangelists to utilize. We need to create fabulous PR materials that deal directly with these misconceptions and are written with potential businesses as the target audience. We can get the word out in our local community by making other local developers and tech solutions providers aware of Joomla. Consider delivering a presentation focused on creating business solutions to local tech councils and user groups and encourage them to invite local business owners. Advertise in local magazines and newspapers that you have a Joomla solution. This general awareness of Joomla and its features will go a long way to erasing some of these misconceptions about Joomla as a project and open-source as a business solution.
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- but getting the functionality I was promised in a timely fashion is another issue completely.
