On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:01:27 +0100, Anthony Atkielski
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Paul Mather writes:
>
> > The operating system is one thing; a certain level support is
> another.
> > That's Free/Open Source software for you.
>
> Yes. And it's one of the factors that makes the open-source movement
> highly self-limiting. I don't know of any way around it. But that's
> why I'd only recommend open-source solutions for mission-critical
> functions if an organization already has all the expertise it needs to
> support those solutions in-house and on site ... because if something
> goes down, that's the only serious support that will be available. In
> many situations, a limited level of support is tolerable, but not for
> key and mission-critical production use.
As I said, that's why you'd contract with one of those outfits in the
"Vendors" section. This is not rocket science.
(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."
A simple case in point is the [mission critical] enterprise backup
solution used at our University: Tivoli TSM. Sure, we have a TSM
administrator who can serve in an operational capacity. But, she sure
can't fix bugs in the TSM software (nor repair the hardware). That's
why we have a Tivoli support contract, because Tivoli [IBM] have people
who [hopefully eventually] can. Ditto with our Sun systems. We don't
have on-site Sun engineers, but we do have a support contract with
emergency call-out that fulfills the same practical function. The same
is true of solutions built out of Open Source products.)
Cheers,
Paul.
--
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"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
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