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Xref: sserve comp.unix.misc:10625 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:5215 comp.unix.bsd:13152 comp.windows.x.i386unix:5989 biz.sco.general:9594 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!nic.hookup.net!news.sprintlink.net!demon!stonewall.demon.co.uk!nigel Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x.i386unix,biz.sco.general From: nigel@stonewall.demon.co.uk (Nigel Whitfield) Subject: Re: SCO market share References: <1993Dec15.015758.17502@news.csuohio.edu> <9312160932.aa05151@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> <WAYNE.93Dec17083053@backbone.uucp> Organization: Jenny Agutter Fan Club Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1993 09:30:40 +0000 Message-ID: <9312210930.aa08217@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk Lines: 38 In article <WAYNE.93Dec17083053@backbone.uucp> tssi.com!backbone!wayne writes: > > err, umm, if support is so critical for you, why don't you *pay* for >it? If you buy your Linux distribution from say Yggdrasil you get a >1-900 number for installation support, and a list of people and places >that will do more extensive support. We do pay for it (though I doubt that dialling a 1-900 number is a realistic option from here :-)) > If you are really hot on >support, you could hire someone to do in house support. It is all a >matter of how critical you think support is. We do have someone in house to do support, but they're not a C programmer either. It's not a requirement, just because you want to run Unix. > Now, you would be crazy to just drop your critical package onto an >untested OS, commercial or free. Indeed. That too is one of the major problems (and perhaps a big sticking point for the takeup of free OS in general.) It took us well over a year to move the Macs to System 7. Another OS (for example on the server) would have to be evaluated for quite a while too, and that's not going to be easy to do unless there are the applications that we need. It's a bit chicken and egg... >You would also be crazy to just >write off gcc, Linux, or perl just because it is "free" software. You >need to try these systems and *see* if the work well for you. But I'm not writing them off. I use a lot of free software at home, and there are small amounts in the office. But not on critical systems. Only when there's a lot more experience available and a reasonable way that we can evaluate things. Nigel.