Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:5076 comp.os.linux.misc:34027 comp.os.os2.advocacy:76045
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news.cs.utah.edu!news.provo.novell.com!park.uvsc.edu!news
From: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu>
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 18:04:46 GMT
Message-ID: <D2z3K0.JIB@park.uvsc.edu>
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: hecate.artisoft.com
References: <950116203411@lambada> <3fjcn4$24u@nkosi.well.com> <3fmi6c$ang@galaxy.ucr.edu> <3fvqbd$6v1@nkosi.well.com> <1995Jan24.175535.27286@rosevax.rosemount.com>
Sender: news@park.uvsc.edu (System Account)
Lines: 53
grante@reddwarf.rosemount.com (Grant Edwards) wrote:
]
] Henry Hwong (henryh@well.sf.ca.us) wrote:
] : Sure. I am in no way dis'ing Linux itself, but, rather, lamenting its
] : state as a chaos-bred operating system. Fortune 500 businesses want
] : certain things for their IS departments, one of which is support.
] : Contracted support.
]
] You can get that for Linux.
]
] : Something you can hold over vendors when you don't get what you need.
]
] And with Linux, if you don't get the support you think you're paying
] for, you can go to another vendor -- and you don't have to change
] operating systems! Cool, huh?
I think what Henry is saying is that he'd rather beat the bejesus
out of the people writing the code using the contract as a bludgeon
to get what he wants, rhather than giving up and going to another
support vendor.
I think there is also an implied problem that no one has stated
outright, but which I will: if the support organization can not
override decisions made by the system engineers, then it is
practically useless. The only thing that will result will be
an ongoing marriage of inconvenience between Henry and the support
company that first made the fix, a marriage that can't be dissolved
without Henry losing his ability benefit from the fix.
The only potential workaround is making sure his system house and
his support house are the same so he can be guaranteed that there
will continue to be systems that carry the changes/fixes he needs
forward.
For many companies, especially small companies, support is an
investment, not an ongoing cost. Once they get to a point where
the installed system works, they are unlikely to upgrade or require
further support. They have paid what they needed to, and now they
want to quit paying.
This is typically not what a support vendor would like, since their
money comes only when Henry considers support an ongoing cost.
This is very similar to the phone companies wanting to charge
message units and customers wanting to pay flat rate for net
connectivity.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.