Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 21:26:51 -0700 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: John Beukema <jbeukema@HK.Super.NET> Cc: Nate Williams <nate@sneezy.sri.com>, Karl Denninger <karl@mcs.net>, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Support charges ( was Re: SUP target for -STABLE...) Message-ID: <475.806473611@time.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 23 Jul 1995 12:00:26 %2B0800." <Pine.SUN.3.91.950723114424.11956A-100000@is1.hk.super.net>
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> 1) if it was as good as BSDI is supposed to be. Certainly, and possibly a fair bit better! :) > 2) if the price is similar to BSDI. Anyone have any numbers for them available? I've not looked into BSDI's pricing structure lately. > 3) if we could address site and configuration specific problems and ask > advice and receive rapid response. Yes, of course.. > Incidently, I do not see why the whole volunteer network would need to be > duplicated. The community must realize that several **additional** full time > support staff whose fixes are put in the tree for everyone are a **good > thing** for all. Why not use all the resources available? The paying > customers expect priority for their problems, nothing more. An OS with a > great paid support team and a great list of volunteers and more concern > for ISP operators would be unbeatable. I agree, and I never meant to imply that we'd need to duplicate the entire volunteer network with my earlier comment, simply that we'd need to provide fairly complete coverage so that the volunteer network wouldn't be a *strict necessity* to providing adequate coverage. I also think that this could be a lot more symbiotic than I've previously outlined since any extra monies accrued by FreeBSD Inc. have always been earmarked for the project in our plans anyway. Those on the project would find it in their best interest to make sure that the corporation remained profitable and the corporation would (clearly) be motivated to keep the project healthy. > As long as the volunteer efforts do not diminish... On the contrary. I think volunteer efforts could be substantially increased by having a real budget for development hardware and the occasional cash subsidy to someone who'd love to work on something but required a certain amount of money to free up the time that would otherwise be devoted to making a living. Even hackers need to eat (sometimes :) and I'd love to be able to have enough money to give out development grants again, as I sometimes did in the past when Walnut Creek was more flush with surplus cash (they've now expanded and are feeling the crunch of ramping up the business, so those days are sort of past). My main motivation here can be easily encapsulated in two points: 1. Provide support to those who need it so that FreeBSD can be more successful in those contexts where support is a prerequisite. 2. Develop a source of development funding so that we can afford to purchase development equipment and award grants to worthy parties who aren't otherwise able to make their living directly from FreeBSD. I think it's time to start thinking about real figures and real expectations of response times if I'm to get any closer to determining the feasability of all this. I'd welcome any comparative data those of you out there might have as I've never personally purchased a UN*X support contract. How much do the "big boys" charge for such things and what level of service do they generally provide? I won't even start this if I don't feel that I can meet or exceed such numbers. Jordan
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