> But unlike big businesses, open source projects don’t have people on staff
To read that from Google is frankly disappointing. While this is true of many open-source projects, it doesn't have to be that way. Red Hat (and Google!) are brilliant proofs of this.
More generally, if a company uses software X (open-source or not), they need to:
a) make a contract with a company that takes responsibility for X, or
b) hire somebody who takes responsibility for X, or
c) take responsibility for X on your own
It doesn't help to "buy" closed-source software X from another company if you can't count on them in case of emergency, i.e. if they vanish, go bankrupt or put their lawyers onto you.
Then, better take open-source software where you can take responsibility on your own, for which it may help to hire one or more of the lead developers.
To read that from Google is frankly disappointing. While this is true of many open-source projects, it doesn't have to be that way. Red Hat (and Google!) are brilliant proofs of this.