But there are points where it takes extreme amounts of time to compete with 'out-of-box' features Yes Asterisk is Bad @$$ and can do many of the things that XYZ Big Box vendors offer and more. However if you are "Super VoIP Man", the one man consulting operation, it presents a unique niche market. Most open source products do not offer that. Now this answers the cry of all the "mom and pop's" out there, lets address "Big Boy Corporation." Larger corporations need a security blanket and if you can't offer that then your out the door.
Distros like TrixBox have the right idea, build a distribution and implement "Service Modules" to handle the configuration of tasks. End users, they are your greatest asset and threat at the same time. There is a common risk factor. However, the fact of the matter is that Asterisk is so extensible that it some times hurts the product. I'd like to say Open Source is almost the clear choice, and it may be the right one in some cases.
Distros like TrixBox have the right idea, build a distribution and implement "Service Modules" to handle the configuration of tasks. End users, they are your greatest asset and threat at the same time. There is a common risk factor. However, the fact of the matter is that Asterisk is so extensible that it some times hurts the product. I'd like to say Open Source is almost the clear choice, and it may be the right one in some cases.