<div dir="ltr">Practice this comment:<div><br></div><div>Sure, there are companies which you could pay, that you could call upon for help when needed. However, from personal experience, answers to the most common problems are readily available from a Google/Bing/Whatever search. If you have a more complicated problem, then call me or send an email to the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts list, asking for help. I personally would hold off paying a third party support company until I needed them.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Many people are initially concerned about the lack of official support, but unless you have a complicated piece of customized software (like Oracle Financials), then your own IT people should be smart enough to make it work. Linux is not Windows, so many IT support people will have to learn something new. It's not that complicated, however. There's a HUGE community of people working with it. Not having a phone number to call is a 20th century excuse. Today, support is available in so many forms. Ask the guy how many times he called Microsoft last year!</div>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 1:11 AM, Jeff Hubbs <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jhubbslist@att.net" target="_blank">jhubbslist@att.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">This is one of the infuriating things that helped me get out of the business. It's as though the people that were hired to run and manage computer systems aren't viewed as valuable; that they are interchangeable commodities. There is a key difference with FOSS; it is meant to be figured out and understood deeply. The things you're working with aren't *products*; they're tools that are meant to be picked up. I wished people would stop to consider why this wonderful, magic "support" was made to exist on the other end of the phone in the first place, whereas the natural place for it is right under your roof. FOSS empowers its users, but gaining that power requires work and dedication.<div class="im HOEnZb">
<br>
<br>
On 7/4/13 10:52 PM, Sergio Chaves wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
After the demos and everything else worked flawlessly, and all the cost savings were evaluated, the very first question I heard was " So, who do we call for support on open source software?". Before I could finish my sentence, once they heard the words "community", forums, IRC, etc., one of the main figures there told me how much my efforts were appreciated but if they could not pickup the phone and call for support, it was no good. Absolutely incredible!<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">
______________________________<u></u>_________________<br>
Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org" target="_blank">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/<u></u>listinfo/ale</a><br>
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/<u></u>listinfo</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>