On Monday 28 November 2005 08:10 pm, pete wright wrote: > On 11/28/05, Qv6 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Monday 28 November 2005 04:04 pm, Theo de Raadt wrote: > > > This is why OpenBSD/OpenSSH does not need to hire a spin doctor. > > > > > > Other people do it for us ;) > > > > > > http://www.ssh.com/company/newsroom/article/684/ > > > > > > And... thanks to those of you who supported us when they were > > > threatening to sue us years ago.. > > > > Intersting news. > > > > I once worked for a major Telecom firm that used a commercial > > implementation of ssh. I was curious and I asked one of the other > > techies why pay for ssh when openssh is available. "Because we can > > go to the company for support" was his answer. > > > > I couldn't help but wonder what type of issues people encounter > > while using openssh. Aside from the usuall software bugs, has there > > really been any major problems with openssh that the community has > > not fixed promptly? > > Not that I don't think openssh is superior for the fact that it *is* > open software, I bet that the company in question needs software > support lisc. for legal issues. If the software goes tit's up and > costs the company N dollar's it is easier to get that money from a > commercial entity whom you have a contract with (or more likely get > money via a insurance broker of some sort). At least that's the best > I've been able to see through that line of reasoning :^) > Seriously! How many companies have actually received money from, say, Microsoft for an os or app software that crashes repeatedly, or gets hit by a major virus attack? You never get your money back. You just get support based on your support contract.
Has any company ever approached the openssh dev team and offered to buy a support contract from them? Did they refuse? Come to think of it, why doesn't the openssh team sell support contracts to companies that want it? Or maybe they already do. Take a look at Mysql. It started as the work of a couple of guys. Now it is a major enterprise and lots of companies use their product. Openssh comes bundled with every Open Source OS, and some companies ship it with their products, too. So the install base is fairly broad, and I think a separate business can grow around that. Just my $0.02
