It's funny how this topic feels a bit passe now, when just maybe a short year ago or so it was a hot topic.

I was exchanging email with my broadband cable ISP (city owned by the way), asking about an interface I'd like to have.

Without the details, his reply discussed the possibility of a commercial solution, but - they obviously have other preferences...

"...I believe I've got funds in the budget for a commercial web interface, though we're a bit hesitant to go with more closed-source software due to the shakiness of the current industry, amongst other impediments. Our funding structure, not being that of for-profit entity, places some hurdles on how quickly we can move with respect to at-a-cost upgrades, bug fixes, etc... Not a good place to be if you're an ISP requiring quick fixes to security holes.

"Besides the modem provisioning software (which runs on a suite of open-source software, but is nicely integrated with a user-friendly GUI), we are completely open-source."

Interesting turn of events eh?