[wellylug] Microsoft At WellyLUG last night.

Cliff Pratt enkidu at cliffp.com
Thu Jul 14 09:31:50 NZST 2005


Jethro Carr wrote:
> 
> but if a company's system 'breaks down' or screws up,
 > who do you demand to fix it?
> 
> If a company uses Debian, noone can be made accountable.
 > If the company uses Redhat, they get Redhat to fix it,
 > or they sue them. This is why some companys stay away
 > from distros like debian - if it goes wrong there is
 > 'ABSOLUTLY NO WARRANTY'.
>
Ah, I'll answer this, but I suggest that after this and any 
reply you care to make that we leave this. It's been done to 
death here and elsewhere many times before.

The fact is that I've been on the receiving end of the 
'support' of companies big and small, including DeadRat and 
Microsoft. I can't think of one case where the 'support' was 
any use at all (with the exception of hardware problems). 
The best support was from a small company which is supect 
was a one-man band or close to it. Warranty on software is a 
load of cobblers. There isn't any, the 'helpdesk' concept is 
a joke and yet I've never heard of anyone getting sued.

If you use RedHat software, RedHat never fixes any problems. 
They might point to a newer version, but if it's not in 
their knowledge base, they aren't interested. They don't 
ever take it any further (eg contact the actuall non-RedHat 
writer of the software).

And who gets blamed? Not RedHat, but the Systems Administrator!
>
> Redhat gets paid to be able to take the blame. Company
 > lawyers always like someone to be able to blame and to
 > make fix the problem. Redhat charges for this risk.
> 
I've never heard of RedHat fixing a problem. In the real 
world, it never happens.
 >
> Also, if you think it's a ripoff - don't buy it. But
 > many companies think it's a good price to pay for legal
 > piece-of-mind and corporate GARRANTEED SUPPORT. Debain
 > support (whilst good) does not have to be given to users.
 > A developer doesn't have to spend the next 24 hours
> fixing a problem. Redhat MUST give support to it's users,
 > MUST fix problems, etc.
>
Must they? Ha!
> 
> see where I'm comming from?
> 
Yes, but it doesn't reflect the real world.

Cheers,

Cliff




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