[kwlug-disc] the business model for open source

[unsolicited]

Wow! Support contention (competition)! NOT something I would have 
thought of - cool.

If 'business' is high on RAID (= redundancy), a business can go 
redundant support (as well as all the other ways in which they go 
redundant), simply by NOT going proprietary.

This is like having your own mail server - bring control back into 
your own hands. And the risks too - you have to be ready and willing 
to get dirty in managing solution execution. And your example shows 
how with MS the choice to get dirty or not is taken away from you, 
potentially leaving you with nothing, and nothing you can do about it.

Or, have your solution provider get dirty on your behalf. Someone like 
NetDirect perhaps. Nothing intended to be inferred by that, other than 
there's no reason you can't ask your favourite vendor, with more 
familiarity and personnel to effect such, to do so for you.

Very interesting. It just shows, again, another benefit to working 
with local people you can reach out and touch instead of automatic 
purchase from a distant corporate conglomerate. Control stays in your 
hands. And you have to be willing to potentially have to spend time in 
exercising control, rather than just up front spending dollars.

john at netdirect.ca wrote, On 08/03/2009 7:34 PM:
> -----kwlug-disc-bounces at kwlug.org wrote: -----
>  >From: Richard Weait <richard at weait.com>
> 
> Competition
> 
> Open source software provides more choices of vendors and support 
> organizations so a higher level of competition exists driving costs down 
> and encouraging better support.