Technology

There is a huge gap in there that you don't see though, and Salesforce profits greatly from it. Small and medium-sized businesses who hate using Salesforce, but premade alternatives aren't customizable for what they need. Throw some customization at it, and you get exactly what you want.

This is essentially how SF became big to begin with. It sucked so bad, people hired engineers to build their extensions on top of it because it had the option. A capable FOSS solution opens the door to people being dedicated hosts for it, as well as offering pluggable solutions.

I understand the converse on its success, just see an opportunity to do better with it.