I'm not being critical of TUCOWS, but of the industry as a whole. Support is rarely a profit center, it is almost always a cost center.
So, since it doesn't make money, all you can really do is try to control costs, and the biggest cost is the cost of labor. So technical support is usually staffed as near minimum wage as possible. Few companies pay for actual talent. OTOH, the folks here mostly are actually in the trenches, doing stuff that the folks in support have only heard about. In all fairness, when I need OpenSRS support, it's rarely a technical problem, and always more of a social problem. .. or a problem with the Evil Registrar not following the rules. -- Lynn On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:35:57 -0500, Chris R Chapman wrote: >I just had to pick up on this exchange as I think it illustrates a really >interesting paradigm: > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>You say OpenSRS doesn't support Windows? �So bug OpenSRS >>>support. �If they can't meet your needs, and you can't code your own >>>solution, go elsewhere. > >>As I stated in my first post I did contact OpenSRS tech >>support by phone before I ever started posting here. In >>fact I had no idea this "forum" even existed until OpenSRS >>told me about it. > >>*THEY* told me to ask the question here. >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >PRECISELY! > >THIS is the triumph of "open" projects like OpenSRS; �why have "OpenSRS >Techs" at all? �"They" haven't the foggiest beyond a static list of yes/no >Q&As, so why not outsource the solution to the listserv for next to no cost? > >The trouble is, they represent the sponsors of the "Standard", which is by >no means a fait accomplis. �I think it behooves them to be a little more on >the ball when developers need assistance. �I've encountered the same >indifferent attitude when asking questions of the techs as well. �Stock >reply is "go to the listserv"-- even when its a matter of pointing out >inconsistencies between the API documentation and their own PERL scripts. > >Sure, it gives us consultants some work, but the flipside is that even we >are stymied from time to time and with little help beyond the empty chasms >of newsgroups and listservs where you hope to find a kindred soul who can >lead you out of the wilderness. > >Chris R Chapman
