Agreed, a very common misconception by users is that the information industry works the way the rest of the world does- ie, you get what you pay for, and can solve problems by throwing money at them. With computer functionality, you don't always get what you pay for.
In the real world, that axim may be true- you pay for the engineering and manufacturing costs that go into a car or device, and the cheaper they are it means they are usually cutting corners. However in the IT world, the product is not tangible and can be easily duplicated, often having no distributions costs at all.
The end result is that its possible for people to band together and create an open source free product for the good of the computing world without looking for any personal gain, and as such their product can be superior than a corporation's who had some 9 to 5 employees who just work hard enough to get paid.
Proof of this concept is the way that huge internet servers run on freely-distributed Linux operating systems as opposed to Windows Servers, etc., and the way open-source firefox beats the pants off of IE and Safari.
Just cuz a VScan is pricey doesnt make it better. Just food for thought...
However, this is in regards only to functionality.
