[ale] open source wars at DOD

[Pete Hardie]

"Jerry Z. Yu" wrote:
> 
>         response to support calls depends on how much $$$ you pay for that
> support, not depends on the code being closed-source or not.  Many
> support vendors (could be different from the software/app vendors) charge premium for
> speedier support (does this ring a bell: platium, gold, silver service
> contract). If you pay for that dedicated customer support guy, you might
> as well pay for a in-house software/systems engineer to master the code,
> if that piece of code is so critical to your business...

My point is that few, if any, open source projects are the bread&butter of the
developers,
so there is not a toll-free phone number to call for support.  In some cases,
there
isn't even a valid email address.

>         If answers to your support request is delayed (or never) or
> speedy but not to your satisfaction, you don't have a thing to go on with
> closed-source vendor besides draging them to court. With open-source, you
> can at least hire a 3rd-party consultant to look into the code for you, if
> you don't want to pick up books like java-in-24-hours...

Actually, you can get this with closed source, if you buy the source code.
-- 
Pete Hardie                   |   Goalie, DVSG Dart Team
    posting from, but not     |
	speaking for:             |
Scientific Atlanta, Digital Video Services Group


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