After you tip your hand... [LWN.net]

After you tip your hand...

Posted Nov 20, 2003 12:53 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462)
In reply to: After you tip your hand... by jhardin
Parent article: Thomas Bushnell is no longer Hurd maintainer

Even as a free software developer you have no rights whatsoever regarding community support. If you don't understand how the process works, and how you can benefit from it, don't complain when things don't turn out the way you planned or expected. Instead, you could consider investing a bit of time and money, like you would have probably done in any other case. By now, you look like a clown if you do not understand the meaning of "free" in free software.

That said, I don't understand how you can build your business on top of a software package that a) does not have a serious support policy; and b) forces you into a specific market, and out of a possibly very profitable one. Maybe you are just trolling here.

However, as I have said before on this forum, I do think it is true that part of the "community" reacts like a raging bull on a red flag, if there is only the slightest mention of anything proprietary. Unfortunately this notion is more or less confirmed, right above.

I cannot see how shouting angrily at the top of your lungs does our cause any good. You really do not have to be the Kissinger of Linux diplomacy to throw together a slightly more civil response.

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After you tip your hand...

Posted Nov 20, 2003 13:51 UTC (Thu) by lacostej (subscriber, #2760) [Link]

"That said, I don't understand how you can build your business on top of a software package that a) does not have a serious support policy; and b) forces you into a specific market, and out of a possibly very profitable one. Maybe you are just trolling here."

As a side note, that's what most free software packages give you. No serious support policy, force you into a specific market.

yes there can be a stong community behing it, even companies, but if you build your business directly on top of it, you still don't have any agreement signed and you're on the front line.

After you tip your hand...

Posted Nov 20, 2003 16:15 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link]

You seem to be making the same mistakes as the original poster.

Community support is a bonus, it is not a replacement for the kind of support you have probably grown accustomed to with respect to proprietary software (you know, the kind that compares memory to gasoline). It is certainly not a right. The mere fact that I choose to distribute my software under a GPL license does not imply that you are entitled to any kind of support from me or anyone else.

If support matters to you, you choose software that is supported. For some shops, this means uncle Ernie will have to be consulted, other companies will be turning to IBM, RedHat or one of the many other companies that sell support as a product. Your suggestion that free software and signed agreements do not play nicely together strikes me as odd. Plus, with free software you have the possibility to take matters into your own hands, something that is much harder -- if not impossible -- to do with prorietary software.

In other words, the whole spectrum of support is available to you, at least in principle.

(By the way, the popularity of some Google groups and other forums should tell you something about your average level of support for proprietary software.)

After you tip your hand...

Posted Nov 21, 2003 20:25 UTC (Fri) by XERC (guest, #14626) [Link]

An example from real life: in my stepfather's office, windows is used on workstations, but linux is used as a gateway and a file server. Both, the workstations and the linux server are maintained by a local IT company, which sends a monthly bill, which consists of the following:

* a fixed sum for routine maintainence,

* additional fee for overhours and new hardware.

Now that's an exact example, how Linux is maintained, but one of the differences between Linux and Windows is, that in case of Linux, the maintainer is relly able to fix the problem by modifying the code, but in case of proprietary, closed, software, by itself the maintainer can only try to cure the symptoms, not the cause. Think of any virus as a security hole. Now, shouldn't security holes BE FIXED AND REMOVED instead of using a symptoms preventers, such as "antivirus software"???