From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 12 23:07:27 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B02016A4CE for ; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:07:27 +0000 (GMT) Received: from gromit.dlib.vt.edu (gromit.dlib.vt.edu [128.173.49.29]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8594D43D31 for ; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:07:26 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu) Received: from zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org (pool-151-199-113-125.roa.east.verizon.net [151.199.113.125]) by gromit.dlib.vt.edu (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id j1CN7OwN008659 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:07:25 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu) Received: from zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org (localhost.Chelsea-Ct.Org [127.0.0.1]) by zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id j1CN7INY033472 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:07:19 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu) Received: (from paul@localhost) by zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id j1CN7IEq033471; Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:07:18 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu) X-Authentication-Warning: zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org: paul set sender to paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu using -f From: Paul Mather To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <20050212203851.D694116A4D3@hub.freebsd.org> References: <20050212203851.D694116A4D3@hub.freebsd.org> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:07:18 -0500 Message-Id: <1108249638.32574.49.camel@zappa.Chelsea-Ct.Org> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.0.3 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port cc: Anthony Atkielski Subject: Re: Instead of freebsd.com, why not... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:07:27 -0000 On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 21:25:36 +0100, Anthony Atkielski wrote: > Paul Mather writes: > > > As I said, that's why you'd contract with one of those outfits in > the > > "Vendors" section. > > If they can do the job. Since they didn't write the code, though, they > aren't ultimately accountable for it. I hate to burst your bubble, but neither is any other OS vendor ultimately accountable for its code. By that, I mean you can file "problem reports" or "trouble tickets" or whatever the phrase du jour is, but the company is ultimately under no obligation to fix them. (Also, if you read your license carefully, they don't guarantee the OS will work, nor are you protected against it destroying your data.) Even some critical reported bugs go unfixed for relatively long periods of time. (This is not to suggest that problems don't get fixed, but merely an illustration that when it comes down to it, you have no guarantees with them, either.) Just because a support/contracting company is not "ultimately accountable" for code they didn't write does not mean they can't put together a well-crafted solution that is known and tested to work within given client parameters. (FreeBSD's general adherence to POLA helps here.) MSCEs aren't "ultimately accountable" for Windows code, but they get hired all the time to fix things and build solutions, right? > > BTW, it is usually not realistic to expect an organisation to have > "all > > the expertise it needs to support those solutions in-house and on > site." > > That depends on the size of the organization. I've encountered > organizations that wrote their own operating systems. Which would make them representative examples, I suppose (note my use of the word "usually")... And, with that statement, I'll confess that the laws of diminishing returns threshold has now been reached for me in this thread and I'll bid my farewell. The reason I posted in what is probably the biggest bikeshed of the year was due to one of your pronouncements that it was not possible to get professional "telephone support" when it comes to FreeBSD. I pointed out it is. That's all. I'll leave it to the various consultants that frequent the list(s) to argue the merits and relative quality of the service they provide. :-) Cheers, Paul. -- e-mail: paul@gromit.dlib.vt.edu "Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." --- Frank Vincent Zappa