Yes, you're right! If you can benefit by capitalizing on someone else's expertise, it's generally smart to do it. Later on, when the boss thinks you should get smarter and learn how to do what the "other guys" do, maybe things will look different, but until someone allocates the necessary resources for you to develop a cheaper/better solution, you use what's "out there."

You're right, too, about how that bandwidth budget can be misleading, and you're right also about why that is.

Just take the case wherein you have to bit-bang a serial link. If you get an interrupt, you either destroy the character, or miss the interrupt. It's not a good choice to have to make.

RE