While I agree with all sides, I also have to side with Todd on this one. If you want to disagree with me, contact IBM, EMC or NetApp and get quotes for features to add new items. I have just spent the last year fighting with IBM regarding our DS6800, which, costed over $250k for less than 2TB of storage 5 years ago. I want to add a a new 4gb fiber channel, or an additional tray of disks. The quote I got back was over $25k for additional shelf, plus the $10k software upgrade to use the additional TB (yes, 1TB).
While this isn't exactly apples to apples, I would look at this as a fair comparison. The features the Open-E provides at a fraction of the costs is unmeasurable. If everything was free, then IBM, EMC, and NetApp would just keep rising their prices and keep development at a stand still. If it wasn't for solutions like open-e, openfiler, freenas you probably wouldn't see the upcoming evolution of solid state, FCoE, or even 10Gb iSCSI. The big boys have to keep up...competition drives innovation...'nuff said.
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