It has been said time and time again, yet still remains true: if the IT industry was monitored half as closely as the automobile industry, most current vendors would be forced to close. Hardware, and software in particular, maintains its own rules; rules that are heavily stacked in the interests of the vendor and not the customer.
However, there are many ways in which the inherent risks of choosing software to support strategic and tactical business objectives may be mitigated. Some of these are common sense, others have been learned through years of exposure and personal experience.
