Absolutely not true. JBoss is a true open source project that doesn't require any sort of purchase... nor should you feel obligated to make a purchase. That said, the freely available documentation is not very good so if you are going to use JBoss seriously then
you should consider purchasing the paid documentation. Truthfully, even the pay-per-view docs are not really that good. My suggestion is to be prepared for some frustration when learning JBoss.
As for your last point, any part of JBoss can be openly discussed. The trick is finding someone that knows.
Now where did Norman Richards go when you need him...
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