It's probably different if you're at a company that actually does what they should and keeps up with all the service contracts and whatnot. I wouldn't know because I always end up at the other type of company.
But I will never buy a NAS or SAN from a company that uses custom firmware on drives. Some dipshit beancounter will come along, "save" some money by not renewing the service contract, and then I'm off hunting for replacement drives on eBay.