It doesn't really need to be all that specialized --- for example, US payroll. Every business with employees needs this. The few FOSS options that exist are mostly focused on countries outside the USA where things are much simpler.
US payroll is complicated by the fact there are 50 different state tax authorities and a multitude of private industry deductions and requirements --- 401K contributions, court ordered garnishments, time off accruals, etc.,etc.. Plus keep in mind that all this is subject to change on an on-going basis and failure to keep up with the changes can incur significant penalties and interest.
Once you start looking into it, you come to realize and appreciate how/why business is unlikely to ever be fully served by FOSS. Proprietary/for profit software will always play a significant role.
Those are services, not software. They might have software frontends (which could easily be replaced by FOSS), but their actual value proposition is the fact that they hire hundreds of people to do human-people-stuff.
Yes, and FOSS payroll software also exists. People don't use it because they'd rather pay for a service that offers support (another service) and absolves them of liability (another service).
I'm not asking for a repeat, I'm asking you to substantiate your claim that "FOSS payroll software also exists". There is next to nothing available and certainly nothing that I would classify as "adequate".
This is just one example --- specialized business software is almost non-existent in open source. And I see no reason to believe this will change any time soon.
It doesn't really need to be all that specialized --- for example, US payroll. Every business with employees needs this. The few FOSS options that exist are mostly focused on countries outside the USA where things are much simpler.
US payroll is complicated by the fact there are 50 different state tax authorities and a multitude of private industry deductions and requirements --- 401K contributions, court ordered garnishments, time off accruals, etc.,etc.. Plus keep in mind that all this is subject to change on an on-going basis and failure to keep up with the changes can incur significant penalties and interest.
Once you start looking into it, you come to realize and appreciate how/why business is unlikely to ever be fully served by FOSS. Proprietary/for profit software will always play a significant role.