From owner-freebsd-current Wed Apr 3 00:14:17 1996 Return-Path: owner-current Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id AAA09622 for current-outgoing; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 00:14:17 -0800 (PST) Received: from time.cdrom.com (time.cdrom.com [204.216.27.226]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id AAA09607 for ; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 00:14:14 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by time.cdrom.com (8.7.5/8.6.9) with SMTP id AAA00494; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 00:11:46 -0800 (PST) To: Cat Okita cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Advice/Recommendation needed In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 01 Apr 1996 14:39:56 EST." Date: Wed, 03 Apr 1996 00:11:45 -0800 Message-ID: <492.828519105@time.cdrom.com> From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Sender: owner-current@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > I *need* to know that I've got a support contract for the OS, and have > someone to hang out the window if things aren't working. (Hell - someone > to sue, if it comes to that). I certainly would be the last to dispute that, though I must at least caution you against putting too much store in support contracts. There is NO substitute for local expertise, and if you expect that a tech support number is going to save your bacon even 3 times out of 5 then I'm sure that many of the other folks on this list will be more than happy to tell you their war stories. As far as litigation goes, by the time you get that far things have also generally passed the point of no return anyway and, short of perhaps making you feel slightly vindicated, generally won't have much of a positive effect - by then your business is suffering mightily and your court case may well drag on for years anyway. Having someone to sue is not all it's cracked up to be. So while your points are all generally valid, I can only point out that your mileage may vary so considerably in different situations that the gap between theory and operations can be very wide indeed. I can only once more recommend local expertise in ALL situations as the only way to truly be sure that your business will not suffer at the caprice of some outside agency, be it one free or commercial. Jordan