Whoa, are you talking about open source code ruthless, trying to get be ranting? K here goes....
If they used closed source TIFF libraries (we are talking a lot of big names including Sony & Apple) they would have all had to work on the problem alone and they would not have shared their fixes. Thankfully libtiff is open source and the fix was only done once and shared with everyone else and the source code for the patch was collectively reviewed by 100's of developers using the library for different applications. This is the best thing about open source code, you have to share your fixes with the rest of the people using the software, even if the software costs money, you still have to share any fixes or patches that you make.
Errors can't be avoided, but they can be reduced and almost eliminated by using peer reviews, which is what open source is all about.
Plus, that exploit allowed PSP owners to write their own software for their PSP's, opening up a closed source device to the homebrew world. Good times /ttiforum/images/graemlins/smile.gif