[Novalug] Is Microsoft dying???

[Joseph K Umstead]

On Wednesday 27 October 2010 10:42:02 pm William Sutton wrote:
> I want to echo what you just said, but I want to shed a little light on
> the subject of support that probably isn't generally known.
> 
> First, a little history.
> 
> Back in the late 90's ('97-'99), I was an undergraduate student at Auburn
> University.  One of the other undergraduate students in my department was
> Mark Spencer.  Mark has been the master, and many of us (myself included),
> the apprentice.  I learned how to install and use Linux from him, back in
> the days of Red Hat 4.x and 5.x.  He was (and I believe still is) a big
> Red Hat enthusiast.
> 
> He's a software master--wrote a Linux implementation of L2TPD, founded the
> Gaim project, started a network discovery tool called Cheops, etc.  He
> also, as many of you know, owns and runs Digium, makers of Asterisk and
> various support hardware for it.
> 
> At the time I knew him, he decided to start a Linux support business
> called, appropriately enough, Linux Support Services.  There was a
> two-tiered business model, offering some basic free help, and paid
> support.  It was originally run out of his dorm room, but then he found an
> office space in an industrial park and ran a dedicated T1 line to it.
> 
> That was all really cool, except that the support numbers were for dorm
> and office, and he couldn't really be in two places at once.  From that
> need came his first PBX, to route calls to wherever he might happen to be.
> The PBX thing took off, and now we have Asterisk and a whole host of
> companies whose business model is based on VOIP using Asterisk.
> 
> The support business fizzled.  In retrospect, it was fairly easy to see
> why:  those who knew what they were doing would support themselves, those
> who had businesses to run using Linux would hire competent support people,
> and those who were just starting out figured that since Linux was free
> (beer or speech, whichever you prefer), help should be free too (beer).
> 
> Maybe things have changed significantly in the 10-12 years since that was
> true, but I seriously doubt it.  It might get somewhere if Dell started
> providing support with their Ubuntu installs, but I don't think even that
> would help.  The fact of the matter that much of the Linux community
> consistently turns a blind eye to, even denies, is that at base open
> source systems, particularly operating systems and windowing environments,
> are written by techies for techies.  By the very nature of the type of
> people that contribute to open source, things will remain that way.
> 
> If you want a system that Just Works out of the box, get an Apple or a
> Windows PC.  If you are willing to support yourself, share what you know,
> research what other people know, and generally troubleshoot your problems,
> Linux or *BSD will suit you fine.  It's a tradeoff--ease of use generally
> equals less freedom and flexibility, while freedom and flexibility
> generally equal more burden on the user.
> 
> William Sutton (Perl programmer, Windows/Linux user at work, Linux/Mac OSX
> user at home, and techie at heart)
> 
Joseph K Umstead wrote:

Thanks for your post, I am new and read here hoping to learn more.
I see this group is for professionals and that ok it's their group.
But you are right about new people getting help.
I like LINUX but if I can not get a printer to work or use the net 
then LINUX will not get my work done For new users, were can
they go? Windows.

Joseph K Umstead