From owner-freebsd-chat Sat Jan 18 09:30:18 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id JAA20931 for chat-outgoing; Sat, 18 Jan 1997 09:30:18 -0800 (PST) Received: from albert.gnu.ai.mit.edu (albert.gnu.ai.mit.edu [128.52.46.31]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with SMTP id JAA20926 for ; Sat, 18 Jan 1997 09:30:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu by albert.gnu.ai.mit.edu (8.6.12/8.6.12GNU) with ESMTP id MAA28450; Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:31:44 -0500 Received: by kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu (8.6.12/4.0) id ; Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:29:56 -0500 Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 12:29:56 -0500 Message-Id: <199701181729.MAA21775@kropotkin.gnu.ai.mit.edu> To: jkh@time.cdrom.com CC: andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu, hasty@rah.star-gate.com, msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, chat@FreeBSD.ORG In-reply-to: <11447.853497856@time.cdrom.com> (jkh@time.cdrom.com) Subject: Re: FreeBSD into larget corp. environment? From: Joel Ray Holveck Reply-to: joelh@gnu.ai.mit.edu Sender: owner-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk >> My view is that phone-in tech support (as an initial contact) is >> an inherently flawed approach. You cannot possibly pay what anyone >> good enough can get doing other work (nor would they want to do it). >> It is especially problematic with a small staff. The person who > So you think that the customer won't insist on talking to a human > being as an initial contact? I guess I really don't have a good feel > for how customers regard email as an effective support tool these > days. If they're comfortable with the idea of just sending a message > into the void and expecting some sort of timely response back from us, > well, I guess I certainly won't argue. I'm just not entirely certain > of that latter point. It depends on the level of user. For the level of user for whom we need to provide paid tech support, a telephone contact is vital. I currently work as a hacker and tech support for my company (not the FSF), and the first few minutes of most of my tech calls are spent trying to calm down the user into a rational state of mind and reassure them that the sky is not falling. The most common type of tech support is called `handholding' for a reason. Mind you, this is based on my experience at the college help desk and my current company, which is aimed at small non-computer-literate businesses. Most people running FreeBSD will probably have a certain amount of computer experience and are beyond being scared of the computer. (I say that, then think about a lot of the new Linux crowd... hmmm...) > So, I guess what you're saying is that there are already enough bodies > who are willing to work through a company like FreeBSD, Inc that we > could present a credible tech support picture to FreeBSD sites? If you're counting, although I don't know FreeBSD as well as many others here, I still present a warm body with good tech support capabilities and experience. > Hmmmmm. And who's going to be the business manager for this again? That guy over there. Away from me. -- http://www.wp.com/piquan --- Joel Ray Holveck --- joelh@gnu.ai.mit.edu All my opinions are my own, not the FSF's, my employer's, or my dog's. Fourth law of computing: Anything that can go wro .signature: segmentation violation -- core dumped