Ubuntu commercial support is the same as Vista Ultimate?!?!

[gmongardi at napc.com (Grant M.)]

Robert L Krawitz wrote:
> You're free to find someone else who will give you support for less.
> Technical support is expensive because the marginal cost is high --
> labor isn't cheap.
> 
> Considering what's in Vista (Ultimate or otherwise), you're still
> getting a bargain buying Ubuntu *plus* support.

[this is in response to all of the emails, not just this one]
I do understand the cost of support - I do it for a living, and
generally only on 'nix systems, RHEL included. But I also understand
that people with Windows Desktop systems have a much lower expectation
of what support is, as well as how much it should cost. It actually
comes up with the sales guys here fairly often as to how we can offer
some sort of reduced-price support.

Think about this:
Windows charges $XXX for their product, which is actually for the cost
of creating and packaging the product, as well as for something in the
way of support ( 90-day from purchase, however good this support might
be). By not offering something similar, doesn't Ubuntu send the message
that:
    1.> It is harder to support Ubuntu, which in turn sends a message
        that perhaps "Ubuntu will be harder to use"
    2.> We get the software for free, but we want to make a bunch of
        money without actually charging for the software
    3.> We can't really compete at the same level with Microsoft.

I don't honestly believe any of those myself, but I am playing devil's
advocate, and I do however believe the point is valid.

For those of you who are going to make the point that Ubuntu's support
is somehow better than Microsoft's, I'm curious how you know that, and
how you've made that comparison.

Thanks,
Grant M.
-- 
Grant Mongardi
Senior Systems Engineer
NAPC

gmongardi at napc.com
http://www.napc.com/
781.894.3114 phone
781.894.3997 fax

NAPC | technology matters



-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.