On Wed, 2003-02-05 at 12:12, Vincent Danen wrote: > On Wed Feb 05, 2003 at 06:44:05PM +0000, Anne Wilson wrote: > > > > > Great..... after september 30 this year I won't have a single > > > > supportable box.... Ummmm Gentlemen..... Are you going to give me new > > > > laptops with my 9.1 distro? It wouldn't be a problem if I could manage > > > > to get software that would last as long as my hardware... well... let's > > > > see 8 years on Win95 ... 6 on 98 ...... hmmmm me thinks the product > > > > life cycle is toooooooo short. > > > > > > Don't even begin comparing us to Microsoft. You should know better. > > > How much cash does Microsoft have in reserve? How much does > > > MandrakeSoft? > > > > There has to be a limit as to what is affordable in the way of support. When > > it comes down to it, only security is an issue to someone continuing to use > > an older distro if they choose to do so. If maintaining security updates is > > too difficult, might it be feasible to maintain a page of link to security > > updates that those running crucial servers could use? Since those users are > > most likely to compile their own, it sounds feasible. What do you think? > > That's what MandrakeSecure, the [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing > list, updates for newer distribs, are all for. > > Put it this way: Subscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (you should > already be subscribed if you care about security anyways)... you will > be alerted on new updates whether they are security or bugfix. The > advisory indicates what packages are updated, for what distrib, and > what the problem is. > > Visit http://www.mandrakesecure.net/advisories/ if you don't want to > subscribe. The advisories for each platform are there. > > Download the src.rpm indicated in the advisory. Either attempt to > rebuild it for your old distrib, or extract the patches and apply it to > whatever version you're currently using (backporting is likely > necessary). > > The information is already all there, and I'm willing to bet that > people who haven't upgraded their 7.1 machines are using this > information to keep their 7.1 system relatively current.
This is true and up until 9.0 came out this was possible. (too many changes.) What I'm think of is a situation where you got 1000 of these puppies ranging from 7.1 through 9.0 it can be a nightmare. My severs aren't that many. I do agree that things should have a life. But a reasonable life. how about support for a series. 7.x support dead in June. 8.x dead at the end of the year. 9.x .... goes on until Say... we are into the 10 series? In 1997 I bought a copy of NT4 for 159 bucks. Support for this ends at the end of this year so I can spread my costs over 5 years. Here though I pay 69.95 twice a year(I only download beta's and if I really need the hardware support). and I don't get support or updates in the sense that for example. No kernel yet released for 8.2 will work right on my i815 and i830 boxes (but 9.0 works fine.) so if I'm an 8.2 user... I'm stuck with a 70 dollar set of frisbee's. No I can't download the kernel and build it. The extra dependencies on things like DocBook etc etc etc. creates a nightmare of apps to build. and many of them don't compile on anything earlier than 9.0. My point is not that it shouldn't have a life. But rather that the support life is too short. This has dramatically increased the TCO of linux in many a CEO/CTO's mind. (More time spent in upgrades, remember they were complaining about every 2 years with MS!) The disks cost less yes... but the percieved cost of the personel needed to install of these boxes + the risk of data loss during upgrades is a very real concern for them. James -- James Sparenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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