Infrastructural Needs

• We needed a rather large infrastructure (communications software, Tweak-able DNS servers, 3rd-party compression libraries, configuration software, process-control software, Testing software, etc).
• Developing all this ourselves meant taking a lot of time.
• Using proprietary products means "pay a lot of money". It was already decided to do the GUI via Microsoft-based tools, and paying for an MSDN license gave us a small example of what it could cost (and we're not talking about royalties yet).
• Which eventually allowed me to introduce the concept of using available FOSS software (which shall be listed shortly).

Originally written by guy keren