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Xref: sserve comp.unix.misc:10598 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:5188 comp.unix.bsd:13128 comp.windows.x.i386unix:5943 biz.sco.general:9525 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!news.umbc.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!ulowell!MathWorks.Com!uhog.mit.edu!news.mtholyoke.edu!jbotz From: jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x.i386unix,biz.sco.general Subject: Re: SCO market share Date: 20 Dec 1993 18:20:16 GMT Organization: Mount Holyoke College Lines: 26 Message-ID: <2f4qd0$k9f@slab.mtholyoke.edu> References: <1993Dec11.012449.99@kf8nh.wariat.org> <2ec989$knu@vanbc.wimsey.com> <2efuku$4vj@rhombus.cs.jhu.edu> <9312142221.aa02201@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: orixa.mtholyoke.edu In article <9312142221.aa02201@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk>, Nigel Whitfield <nigel@stonewall.demon.co.uk> wrote: >Well, as the editor of a computer magazine, I wouldn't begin to >consider producing the magazine on a non-commercial platform. There is >great free software out there, but if anything goes wrong at a >critical moment, I have to know that I can ring someone up and get >them to sort it out. You can purchase commercial support for free operating systems from a number of consulting companies, and often it is higher quality than the typical Vendor support (when was the last time that a bug report to DEC or IBM actually resulted in a fix within a reasonable amount of time for you?) >Ultimately, in a situation like that, the economics work in favour of >the commercial solutions. I wouldn't be so sure of that... especially for large consumers (i.e. big corporations) free operating systems to which they have easy access to the source may turn out to be cost-effective to support and more reliable in the long run. Time will tell, but so far the signs are good. -- Jurgen Botz, jbotz@mtholyoke.edu | ``Accountability is the price of openness'' South Hadley, MA, USA | - Daniel Geer