Karl,
Ease of setup and use are not the primary reason for purchasing any product, IMO.
Yes, but you aren't the common user. Many commercial products *must* have oversimplified setups if they want the largest possible customer base. Consider the difference between the primary goals of spamassassin and arbitrary commercial anti-spam solution:
Spamassassin: To facilitate a community effort with the primary goal of accurate reduction of spam.
Commercial Product: to sell as much commercial product as possible, with the goal being either short term profits or long term profits.
A few years ago I bought a groupware that was configured as an open relay out of the box. When I contacted support about changing the default behavior, they said that they would lose customers if they configured it securely out of the box, so they didn't do it.
Is spamassassin the best I've seen and worked with? Absolutely. Does spamassassin cost more in sysadmin time and require a more competent sysadmin to properly configure and maintain it? Yes. I've noticed in my own work with spamassassin, especially under solaris, that more time spent configuring it resulted in significantly better results.
Best, Jesse
