UserLand: Total Cost of Ownership

Total Cost of Ownership is Total Bullshit.

The important metric is Return On Investment (read more), and not in %, but in absolute terms, $. Just because something costs less to own doesn't mean it's going to make you or your organization more successful.

I believe you get what you pay for. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case in CMS land -- it's well known in the CMS industry that a high sticker price equals high credibility to executives, regardless of quality (few developers are tricked by this but they aren't usually the decision makers). Maybe that's why UserLand is dropping baloney figures, because their industry is so bent they have no choice but to play the game their competitors play.

Update: Jon Roeb responds on his site.