...or try not to get into the situation where your financial/employment status is in the hands of volunteers. (Don't use OS for important things that require diligent support)
I've found this to depend more on the project and leaders than open-source vs. proprietary status. For example, I've been quite happy with the responses I've gotten to bugs submitted to Debian, some of which have been fixed on the same day--- which has never happened when I've reported bugs to any other operating-system vendor. With most of the commercial software I use (Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, etc.), I'm lucky if it's at all possible to reach anybody and get a response, much less a fix, even with a quite specific, reproducible test case. Heck, even GNU Octave's team, while understaffed, is more responsive than Matlab's, and we pay some mega-$$$ for a Matlab site license.
Or pay the developers for "diligent support". Many open source projects offer some kind of paid support or commercial license. A lot of people seem to expect fully fledged support for free, and that's pretty crazy.
If you want "free support" you either need to be able to fix it yourself or get on good terms with the developer. In any case, don't be a dick.
> A lot of people seem to expect fully fledged support for free, and that's pretty crazy
It gets worse; A lot of those people expect fully fledged support for trivial "problems" which are clearly explained in the help file (that ships with the product) on the website, in the forums, and in a wiki. And they'll be dicks about it too.
> So if its mission-critical, expect to take support in-house or pay for it
Pretty much true of any software, proprietary or not; only a blind optimist or someone with deep pockets will use a mission-critical piece of software without developing in-house expertise. Also, free online resources are available for both. We use a mix of proprietary and OSS products here and we've found that paid support is somewhat better for proprietary (easier to get, though quality varies extensively), but free support is typically better for OSS products.
Still, the main benefits of OSS have little to do with free support, though it is a nice bonus. I've thanked many developers for their time spent not only creating a program/system I use, but also for supporting it. Especially for small projects, sending a few good words and a few bucks (when you can afford to) shows the devs their efforts are appreciated.
The product is open source--your "financial/employment" status is never out of your control. The worst case is that you have to fix a bug yourself or pay somebody else to do it. In fact, if you end up hiring somebody else to do it, you have a lot more control over how and when it gets done. Also, there is a good chance somebody else wants the same issue resolved, and would contribute the solution back to the project, so you might not have to do anything at all.
On the other hand, with a proprietary product, you have no control over the software; if there is a bug you're left hoping the company providing the program is willing to work on it. Also, if the company goes bankrupt or makes decisions you don't agree with you're just out of luck.
