Re: [xml-dev] Re: determining ID-ness in XML

[Dan Weinreb <dlw@exceloncorp.com>]

   From: John Cowan [mailto:jcowan@reutershealth.com]

   IMHO the most important right that a user of Open Source
   software has stems from the fact that if you have $$$, there
   are people out there who will make the program do
   whatever you need.

That's true, but you can't necessarily get those changes to be checked
back into the main source stream of the open source project.  That is,
you can get your own problems fixed if you're willing to make your own
fork and have your own custom version of the software.

But what happens when the mainstream development line of the open
source project comes out with a new release?  You have to either
forego the new release, or merge in all of your custom changes with
all of their changes, and deal with any conflicts, no?