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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!caen!usenet.coe.montana.edu!bsd.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: Unix for PC Date: 7 Dec 1994 01:46:52 GMT Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman Montana Lines: 48 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <3c346c$ec@pdq.coe.montana.edu> References: <199411210319.TAA18133@nic.cerf.net> <D0CDv6.8v@novell.co.uk> <3c093e$6bm@pdq.coe.montana.edu> <3c2o5o$b65@hermes.unt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bsd.coe.montana.edu In article <3c2o5o$b65@hermes.unt.edu>, Bruce Jackson <jackson@replicant.csci.unt.edu> wrote: >In article <3c093e$6bm@pdq.coe.montana.edu>, >Nate Williams <nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu> wrote: > >> However, for critical projects you NEED to have someone at the other > end of the phone who WILL answer your question and WILL devote >>time to fixing YOUR bugs. This is where the free OS's fall short, not >>in the way they do development. > >Seems to me that you can internally support a free OS if you have >sources. It takes a *lot* of sources to internally support a free OS. Most companies don't have the desire to do have one person at least part-time dedicated to OS support. For $1k/yr you can buy decent support, which is still a heck of a lot cheaper than 5 hrs/wk for someone to keep current with the free OS, let alone do the support. 5hr/40hrs * $40K == $5K/yr using rough numbers, and I suspect the 5hrs/wk and $40K/yr are both low estimates. >can handle that myself or find someone brighter than me to look over >my shoulder. What I need is source. IMHO you're non-typical. I *like* to mess aroud with FreeBSD, which is part of the reason I helped start it. But when it comes time to getting things done at work I have plenty of other things that are more important. I'm willing to pay somebody to do that for me so that I can focus my efforts on those tasks that are critical to me and my company, and let the OS guys do what they do best. Yes, there are times when having source would have been a god-send, but those times are few, and the # of bugs that are fixed that would have taken ME a long time are worth buying commercial support. Granted, I've never worked in a business where the OS was part of the product, but until that happens OS support will continue to be my hobby and I will continue to recommend commercial software to those people who *need* support. Nate -- nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu | FreeBSD dude and all around tech. nate@cs.montana.edu | weenie. work #: (406) 994-4836 | Unemployed, looking for permanant work in home #: (406) 586-0579 | CS/EE field.