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From: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Linux vs. FreeBSD
Date: 19 Jul 1995 04:49:31 GMT
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Lines: 84
Message-ID: <3ui2ss$fon@park.uvsc.edu>
References: <3qfhhv$7uc@titania.pps.pgh.pa.us> <id.DMCL1.BVI@nmti.com> <3tffhq$qfu@pandora.sdsu.edu> <3tv096$8ba@park.uvsc.edu> <id.0VJL1.Z23@nmti.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hecate.artisoft.com
peter@nmti.com (Peter da Silva) wrote:
]
] In article <3tv096$8ba@park.uvsc.edu>,
] Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu> wrote:
] > I find it particularly ironic that the software industry is really
] > the only industry in which free support is considered mandatory. If
] > my car or fridge fail, I call the repairman, not the 1-800 support
] > number. If my bicycle fails, I take it to the bike shop.
]
] The last time my car failed, I took it to the dealer, they repaired it
] under warranty. The last time my bike failed, I took it back to Sears,
] they replaced the faulty frame for free. The other week I had a problem
] getting roadkill out of my car. I called the dealer, they gave me good
] advice about where it was likely to have got stuck. My bike computer
] failed shortly after I got it, I took it back and it was replaced under
] warranty. The kit for my swingset was missing a piece, it was replaced
] for free. I had a problem getting it set up in the thick Houston clay
] soil. They gave me a workaround. This is all support.
Actually, it occured to me after I noted the acceptability of
failure levels that it still wasn't the software industries fault,
and that your point about the dealer network being missing was
a whole lot closer to the mark.
Which is to say that your car probably didn't fail because you
installed fog lamps improperly yourself and shorted the electrical
system.
Your bike failed because of workmanship, not because you used
third party spokes.
Your dealer helped you because he cared about about your repeat
business.
Your bike computer was another case of workmanship.
The missing piece on the swingset was workmanship as well, though
in the production department rather than in manufacturing.
The soil workaroung was a genuine "product usage" support call,
and is probably worthy of a documentation fix in the next "rev"
of the swingset, assuming that enough people have the problem
to merit the extra paper and ink costs.
Of these, the only one that fails by analogy in the computer
industry is the dealer caring about your repeat business, and
that's more to you buying computers from the lowest bidder and
to hell with service:
People typically install the equivalent of the "improperly wired
foglight" on their machine. In the WSJ article, the config.sys
file that was munged was the equivalent of a shorted electrical
system.
If your power supply blows under warranty, you get a new one free.
If dealer-installed software is bad, it gets fixed (unless you
broke it yourself by doing something that you mistakenly felt
was unrelated.
If your monitor dies under warranty because of faulty workmanship,
it too is replaced free.
If you bought a machine with a tape drive and it didn't arrive
with one, the production screwup is fixed.
If you genuinely have a question about the equipment that isn't
covered under the documentation, then you have every right to
get an answer from the vendor (for instance: how to talk to
PowerMac hardware directly 8-)).
The 1-800-SUPPORT number the vendor runs isn't for you to call
into because you bought mail order and didn't give the dealer
enough margin that he gives a damn about repeat business. You
buy something at the moral equivalent of "the swap meet" and
all bets are off.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.