one of the problem of black box computing

Two of the software packages (NetBackup and IntraLink) I support at work are very opaque packages that are results of merging many different products together. I have been neck deep in supporting these two packages the last few days and I just pulled 14 hour day getting one of these packages back on its feet.

My central complaint with opaque computing is when something is not working as expected, finding out what is going on almost requires a mind meld and blood sacrifices. Thankfully no blood sacrifices were required tonight, but I am going on day three of getting a lot less sleep them I need. If these packages were opensource I very likely could have found out what the problem was and how to fix it using google, ethereal, truss, and a CLI (command line interface for either unix or sql) in about 30 minutes. Of course having a 24x7 support contract for both of these products would have replaced some of this need, but how many times have you been on a tech support call where you basically have to prove that the computer is on?