Letters to the editor

an irish linux user's attempt to purchase a license...

in case you'd like to print a reader's experience story on purchasing a
license. well, ok, just getting an invoice for it. unless sco comes up
with proof that they're owed money i'm not buying one. anyway it would
be nice to hear from an eff or fsf attorney if an invoice for linux that
a user requested still constitutes extortion (if it constitutes
extortion at all). i'm sure they can't answer it for irish or uk law,
but it might be nice to inform us-based readers.
 
----
 
here follows my attempts to get a linux license from sco. to date i've
had to ring sco offices in three countries and have been put on hold,
transferred and had to explain sco's linux licensing program to sco's
own sales staff more times then i care to detail. the hardest part is
to keep a straight face while calling.
 
On calling +1 800 726 8649 I reached an IVR system. The correct option
to pick is option 1 (product sales) and option 1 again (to speak to an
operator). At that I got a nice lady on the phone who didn't sound like
she'd been screamed at a lot lately. That's a good thing - if people call
be nice to the operators. I then found out they aren't taking orders -
they're taking contact details and they'll ring back in 7 to 10 days. I
explained I was in Ireland and she gave me the number for the Irish
office, which is a UK number... +44 171 722 6014. She thought they'd
moved to Dublin, so that might not be correct. The consensus is that the
number is wrong since the 171 area code is gone in the UK. Another ILUG
member is looking up the correct number for dublin.
 
So I contacted the number in Ireland (+353 1 260 6300) since the UK number
I was given didn't work. The first person put me on hold while trying to
find a local distributor. She was unable to find one so she transfered
me to the "support department" (not sure I heard that correctly). The
woman who answered there was unclear what I wanted so I explained that I
had downloaded Linux off the net and was calling to get the license SCO
said I needed. She still seemed unclear but suggested I call the UK and
gave me a number (and she gave it with the country code and the leading
0 which is incorrect, but I'll manage). I'm calling that number now -
country number three in my quest for a Linux license!
 
Called the UK number I was given (+44 170 722 6014). I gave my details -
do you know how ridiculous the phrase, "Hi, my name is Kevin Lyda and
I'm calling about purchasing a Linux license" sounds after you've said
it about a dozen times? Anyway she gave me the number of the Irish
office. I explained that I'd already called them and I'd been sent
to the UK number. So after going on hold and being transfered about, I
finally was asked for my details with a promise they'd call me back. I
gave my details and upon asking when I could expect a call back was told
they'd try to get back to me today. As licensing schemes go I think this
one is terribly inefficient. And to date I've yet to be asked how many
machines I have to license - 3 desktops and 2 servers for the curious.
 
--
kevin@ie.suberic.net http://ie.suberic.net/~kevin/cgi-bin/blog
I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in & overthrow Saddam Hussein &
it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, & I will not trust
the Bush admin again. -- Bill O'Reilly on Good Morning America, March 18.

Comments (1 posted)

LWN gets more valuable

   Dear Editors (all three of you :-):
 
   I was reading the comments appended to ``All SCO all the time'',
and my eye was caught by http://lwn.net/Comments/45417/, asking
that LWN continue to cover the story because it ``has by far the
best coverage of this issue''...and I had a horrible thought:
suppose you'd quit last year, and we had to rely on /.?
 
   While a lot of your normal (read: non-SCO) coverage would
filter into my consciousness eventually, and I'd not miss a lot
of the rest, this issue is vital, and I'd be searching for
everything I could find to learn how things are going (or not
going).
 
   Instead, I have it laid out neatly, cross-referenced,
interpreted, and commented on (all intelligently done) in one
convenient site. For this, you're simply indispensable. My
subscription's up next month, and I'm going to re-up at double
your suggested rate. It's worth every penny.
 
 
--
 
                         Best wishes,
 
                                  Max Hyre

Comments (4 posted)

Page editor: Jonathan Corbet