These days, I can scarcely click a mouse without running headlong into some variety of punditry regarding the imminent death of proprietary software thanks to open source. Sorry, I don't believe proprietary software is digging its inevitable collective grave any more than the sun is about to go nova.

The most common version of the argument runs something like this: Since there are now open source replacements for just about any proprietary program or platform, said proprietary platforms and apps have lifespans you can now measure with a stopwatch. The move to open source is inevitable. Dinosaurs like Oracle and Microsoft are headed for the boneyard in the next five years. (Or maybe ten. Or maybe fifteen.)

Trick up this line of thought any way you like, but at core it remains an article of faith and not an observation based in fact. "Inevitable" is like "never" or "always": looks great on a headline, but all it takes it one contrary example to rip it up the middle.

Yes, open source can render some proprietary apps obsolete, or at the very least force them to radically rethink their approach.

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