I too am grateful for all the help I have gotten.
I use Linux on 3 out of my 4 machines, and I am not turning back.
I have sucessfully managed to set up a server that has done nothing but
sit there and work.......day after day. Granted, it doesn't work very
hard, but it could....... I have a fedora laptop that works like a top.
I have a linux based firewall that does it's job day after day as well.
(It also runs a VPN connection to the office I work at.)
When it comes to production machines, I have complete faith in the Linux
community that they are there to help and support the product.
They have supported me and I will support anyone that I can help.
On Sun, 13 Feb 2005, Erik Hemdal wrote:
>>> Yes.
>>>
>>> I am not trying to be biased but i was quit impress with the tools and
>>> SLA Microsoft has. And they solved our problem.
>>
I'm desperately trying to avoid a flame war, but I am very curious about a
couple of things:
1. What kind of SLA will Microsoft offer to a small business or an
individual user?
2. For the case above, where the poster spoke to a kernel developer, what
kind of response was promised in the SLA and how much did it cost?
For the record, I use Windows, because a specific toolchain I need isn't
going to be ported to Linux. But where I can (which is nearly everywhere
else), I use Fedora, in fact, I do most of my email, "Office" work, and
presentations using Linux. I've found Microsoft support to be expensive and
antagonistic to customers. A recent experience bears this out.
I have an issue working for a friend now where MS support is needed. My
friend entered "DLL Purgatory" because of a defect in a version of
MSVCRT.DLL, used by just about everything on the system. The Knowledge Base
article which discloses the defect announces a hotfix for the problem. But
to get the hotfix, one must place a toll call to Microsoft and pay the charge
for a service call to obtain the fix.
The Microsoft technician has the discretion to decide whether to charge you
Microsoft's fee for the consultation, but in any event, you pay for the phone
call. So no matter what you do, it will cost you money if you want your
system to work. My friend didn't do anything except install Service Pack 2,
and her system went south. Now her system is degraded and it will cost her
to recover it.
For those who are unhappy with the support one gets from the Linux community
for free, I must ask: Is this kind of support worth paying for? I am
grateful for the support of this community. You all do great things.
Erik
--
Don Dupy
FC1 - Kernel 2.4.22 - Dell Poweredge 600SC
http://www.maxxrad.net
email: fedora(a)maxxrad.net