> shell out for enterprise support even if there are no additional features.
i don't feel this to be true.
Also, an enterprise that's large would want some features that are irrelevant to a small shop. For example, single-sign-on integration with various providers.
I do though ... Imagine a manager being dependent on a system he ~~bought~~ installed for free, which he didn't buy support for, and is now malfunctioning. It's his fault. And this is what I've seen in practice as well.
Just think about the commercial success of SUSE Linux?
Why? Most enterprises, especially ones that aren't tech firms, are going to shell out for enterprise support even if there are no additional features. Crippling the community version doesn't necessarily help enterprise sales, it can reduce overall mindshare reducing enterprise traction or, worse yet, mean that a third-party downstream edition with richer open-source features becomes dominant and it's creator gets “your” enterprise support contracts.