Hi:
I want to point out what really means Free Maillist Support.
At first sight when we said Cocoon has support trought free maillist, it seems like it is less than Company Support. Many of us saw this as a lack instead of a feature, just before we make the first taste of the Cocoon's free support feature.
From my point of view Open support means:
<snip/>
I didn't have any specific replies because it's all good, so I'll add some more thoughts, slightly on the "Devil's Advocate" side of things.
When is commercial (or 'professional') support desired, compared to the "free" kind?
I'm sure the members of Orixo can answer this one :) It's a tough one though. The notion of professional support is relative, since many of us are not here as a result of our jobs (me, for instance). Sure, we're all professionals in one way or another, but I'll limit my definition to refer to people who are directly supporting Cocoon for money.
There are some benefits, as far as I can see, to wanting commercial support over the free kind. I don't speak of these from experience, so I could be way off base here.
Professional support as an interface or hub into The Community
Ideally, the company providing commercial support is active in the Cocoon Community, because otherwise they clearly wouldn't have their pulse on the project. If a company decides they want to use Cocoon, it may be beneficial for them to hire a company to do the work for them (outsourcing), or at least be able to steer them in the right direction (consulting). The professional supporter can guide the client, getting them up to base and keeping them on the cutting edge of changes. The company could also hire Cocoon consultants to train employees about the basics, and teach them the ropes.
There *are* quiet times on the list, mainly when Europe is asleep :) When people in Europe are going to bed, or leaving work and turning off their computers, lots of us here in the US are just finishing lunch. That's still half a day! Having an experienced Cocoon contact a phone call away (and in your timezone) could be very beneficial, especially when something Goes Bad(tm).
Additionally, the Professional Supporter has also been active on the mailing lists, and possibly has contacts in other places, such as other projects (Tomcat, or Avalon, for instance), or in other local networks such as user groups. This reinforces the idea of the Commercial Cocoon Supporter as a hub of knowledge.
Antonio had some good examples, let me see if I can come up with some counterexampes. Keep in mind I'm trying to play Devil's Advocate and I'm not really complaining :)
1- Faster response time.
Many companies can't afford to wait overnight for a problem to be solved. Indeed, the mail list is fast, but only when everybody is awake.
2- Answers include diferents approach to solve the same problem:
I agree, I don't really have a counterexample, except for having a professional supporter post onto the list (after exhausting their other resources [themselves]), "My client, ABC Inc. is needs to get A and B done, but we can't do it this way because &excuse; I'm stuck, does anybody else have ideas?" Again, this isn't really a counterexample, but it shows that the professional supporter could be a good contact into getting a problem solved.
3- Good knowledge database:
Yes, but there's lots of effort involved in digging through a few years of mail archives, or learning the intricacies of Avalon, digging through the existing docs, etc.
The idea of providing commercial support for Cocoon interests me greatly, because it's something I'd like to eventually do. I'm not sure if companies here in the US are even willing to hire "expensive" consultants anymore, as opposed to just hiring somebody in-house. It would be a fun experiment though.
Currently on monster.com there are exactly 8 jobs listed (in the US) in which "Cocoon" is a keywords. They are mainly located on the east and west coasts. The fact that there are so few job listings is a mixed blessing, one, because it makes it hard to get a job doing Cocoon work. The good part is that this leads me to believe there is a shortage of people knowledgeable enough to work with Cocoon full-time, which tends to be good for those of us who can fill an admittedly small niche.
That's about all my comments for now :)
Regards,
Tony
