[TriLUG] Open Source vs Closed Source

William Sutton william at trilug.org
Thu Mar 7 17:42:11 EST 2013


It might be now... on a small scale... but I really don't know.

About 15 years ago, my friend Mark Spencer (of Digium and Asterisk fame) 
started a company named Linux Support Services with a two-tiered business 
model (free for small-time user requests, pay for businesses and frequent 
user requests).  It failed (everyone wanted free support, except for the 
users who knew what they were doing and the businesses who could afford to 
retain knowledgable staff).  Of course, the PBX he wrote to manage his 
calls between the university dorm and the office took off, so he's doing 
pretty well... but I'm pretty sure he dropped the user support business 
:-)

William Sutton

On Thu, 7 Mar 2013, Jeremy Davis wrote:

> One reason I see people sticking with MS, there is someone to call to
> provide support (if you have the will to persist, a phone number is hidden
> somewhere deep within in the MS website if you look hard enough. Although
> it is much easier to just go buy a new computer).
>
> Are there services that exist to support average users that are willing to
> try a Linux OS? A "Geek Squad" so to speak for FOSS? I am sure something
> like this has been tried before. I just have not heard of it. Granted, I
> find it easier to solve issues for Linux because everything is in the open
> and there is an all knowing community that comes along with it. Convincing
> a leary MS user that everything will be ok, is a different story.
>
> Just wondering if FOSS support for consumers might be a viable small
> business opportunity, which would basically consist of installing Linux on
> desktops and laptops, then providing support.
>
> Jeremy
> On Mar 7, 2013 4:28 PM, "John Vaughters" <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>> IBM's AIX is alive and well, being sold and maintained by IBM to
>>> corporate customers for their data centers world wide.
>>
>> AIX is far from alive and well it was shelved years ago. It is only
>> maintained for legacy purposes. IBM has been pushing their customers off it
>> for over a decade. Yes it exists, it is sold, but it is dying a slow death
>> and not developed other than bug fixes.
>>
>> My point was and is that the Open Source *nix and those that adopted it as
>> their base absolutely have oblitierated Microsoft if you count those OS's
>> as a single category in number of installed devices. I do not beleive it
>> would have happend without the Open Source Revolution, which is the source
>> of common standard computing.
>>
>> That is all am trying to say. I realize the different OS's are different
>> and for good reasons, but they still allow me easily move from one to the
>> other with only slight differences. Syslog is Syslog, X is X, etc.
>>
>> Now try to take a MS guy and see how quickly he can move to customized
>> embedded Linux.
>> --
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