On 2007-03-08T19:08:18, Alexei_Roudnev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But feedback to the Novell is really a huge problem, and it makes their > excellent system to be less usable then it could be. They improves every > year, but still don't have open beta testing, don't have open feedback > channels for their customers (even those without the premium support). They > inherited a great system from SuSe (and SuSe had not such problems), and we > don't want to lost these system.
Dear Alexei, I'd like to thank you for your support and of course your praise for our system. I would further like to explain a bit about our processes: First, for the Enterprise product line, we make our money primarily from the support contracts. In return, we ensure that problems reported by customers with support contracts get resolved as soon as possible from an engineering point of view. We have a global support organization (NTS) to handle the customer relations and support our R&D with reproduction, data gathering et cetera, so that our engineering organisation can focus on solving the technical problem. I've been here and with SUSE since a little over 7 years now, and I can tell you that our support has improved since. Are there problems from time to time still? Absolutely, and we're working on fixing them. (Processes and organisations have bugs, just like code does ...) Now, SUSE was not good at one thing: that would be why we eventually got bought. We must thus insist that the complex support cases are reported through support contracts. Does this mean we're not open for feedback? We _are_! We are, in fact, looking at John's problem, in parallel to the support processes being started up. And yes, it _does_ imply that the issues which get reported from customers _with_ support contracts or similar situations get priorized. I must beg your pardon, but how else should we do that? Premium support _is_ premium. It ultimately means that in critical situations, we priorize those calls over product development, and, if there is no other option, put the developer on a plane to the customer site. (Which of course we try to avoid because it rarely is the best way to solve a problem.) We _cannot_ offer this to everyone, and this is no secret: You'll find it pretty clear in our marketing material and price lists that there's several options (maintenance only, normal and premium support etc) available. Please, chose which fits your environment and needs. Again, we're looking at John's problem, but not at "premium" priority. Second, we do have an open beta program. The beta program for SLE11 for example is code named "openSUSE 10.3", the development being done totally in the open. This does have an open bugzilla even. Third, we even have a beta program for SLES10 SP1. Please contact your support coordinator and ask about it. (It's open for our premium customers and certain pilots, I have to admit I'm not perfectly clear on the details myself.) However, for SP1, this might be a bit late in the cycle. Regards, Lars -- Teamlead Kernel, SuSE Labs, Research and Development SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." -- Oscar Wilde _______________________________________________ Ocfs2-users mailing list Ocfs2-users@oss.oracle.com http://oss.oracle.com/mailman/listinfo/ocfs2-users