Actually I would say that Free software, and Linux in particular, is
supported if you are willing to shell out the money for it.
:If I were a Sun customer, with a support agreement/contract, I could say
:to them "there's this rsh-ioctl problem and I need a fix" and if they don't
:then they've got have a good reason why not. They may even supply me with
:a "test-patch" (which don't get released to the general public). Basically
:they answer to customer demand and posting things to bugtraq is not the same
:as a customer with a problem logging a support call.
:
Ok. If you have a support problem with a Linux vendor then there's no
reason why this wouldn't apply either.
:If I have a prlbem with Linux, I have no _guarantee_ that anyone will look at
:it, never mind actually solve it. If it's a priority 1 problem for me and
:I receive no support from the Linux camp, how good does it sound to explain
:to management "I posted the problem a week ago, but no response." ? It's
:the guarantee of some sort of support service which management need. ie.
:they can yell at someone else and get a head kicked if nothing happens.
:Who's going to do that for Linux ?
:
There is a guarantee if you're paying for support. There are a growing
number of companies that are doing this.
--Chris
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Christopher Blizzard
AppliedTheory Communications, Inc.
http://odin.appliedtheory.com/
blizzard@appliedtheory.com
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