EXACTLY! Forcing service contracts down the throats of shops that are evaluating Linux/390 for use within their organization will KILL THE INITIATIVE, ENTIRELY! But MOST large shops will not run ANYTHING in production without some level of service from the vendor, and THAT is what SuSE does not seem "to get"!
Has Linus Torvalds weighed in on this issue, i.e. whether the "nominal charge" which a vendor may charge for redistribution of the Linux operating system can be "co-mingled" with a mandatory service contract? Seems to violate the "spirit" of the GPL, if not the letter of it. Michael Coffin, VM Systems Programmer Internal Revenue Service - Room 6030 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20224 Voice: (202) 927-4188 FAX: (202) 622-6726 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----Original Message----- From: Dave Myers [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 11:01 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: reasons why management don't want linux In a message dated 1/21/2002 10:26:52 PM Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > What you > need to understand is that your success so far is based on widespread > acceptance of your code and that your current market dominance is based on > being the first mover in this space. Take that away by making your > distribution difficult to obtain or integrate into custom solutions, or > annoy enough of the consultants and system integrators by making it > difficult for them to value-add onto your product, and you *will* lose that > acceptance, and correspondingly, your market share. You're biting the > hands > that feed you. > > If that's your strategy, great, it's working. Your gun, your head, your > thumb spinning the cylinder. The choice is yours. Out here, we, the folks > that recommend purchases to customers don't think it's such a great idea > and > are trying to give you feedback on your choice before the marketplace does. > Take that for what it's worth -- after all, look what you paid for it...8-) > AMEN!!!! ...and let me add this point It is important for SuSE to understand that IF they open up the evaluation copy and get the latest release spinning on lots and lots of enterprise mainframes... they will eventually reap MANY support contracts from S390 sites. After all...how many companies are going to allow PRODUCTION use of Linux on the mainframe without support contracts ?? Dave
