I sat in a meeting this week and discussed how a certain company could speed up our effectiveness, efficiency and seamlessly integrate with our Hadoop cluster. As I sat through that meeting the further along I went and the more I questioned the guys the more I realized I didn’t want their rule book. 
Sure they have a great product, but with that greatness we have to accept their rules and buy into the lock-in that comes with it. I want the flexibility to live without a vendor, I want the flexibility to innovate, I want the risk of going out and doing it on our own, I want to own the success or failure.
Sure – we can do things faster and better if we don’t reinvent the wheel, but I want our Hadoop environment to thrive without vendor dependence. I want us to develop the skills in house and I want the people that build the solution supporting it for years to come.