Rob wrote: > As a systems programmer I > would need to have some feeling about what type of support SuSE or > RedHat would be delivering so I can convince my management.
This is exately the point (or the disadvatage of SuSE's offer). By using Open Source Software I also want to get (and pay) Support and Maintenance wherever I like and not implicitly by the creator of the Distribution. Heinz -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 11:19 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: New SuSE Enterprise Server "Post, Mark K" wrote: > Well, even though this is acceptable under the GPL, I have to say that I'm > disappointed SuSE is doing this. I understand it is for business reasons, I think it would be very tough to make a profitable business doing only a Linux for S/390 distribution. Things that work for Intel due to the huge number of installs will not work for S/390 because of a relatively small number of installations. I really believed the current distributers had understood that getting their distribution on the S/390 at a site will create more Intel sales as well. I know that I personally purchased initially a RedHat for Intel because the Marist setup was based on RedHat, and after that I bought two SuSE distributions only because my S/390 distribution was SuSE. In many cases Linux for S/390 gets in through the back entrance by some people who are eager to try things and demonstrate. The need to send a mail to some sales person is an additional obstacle to get things in, just because such a mail would be too official and may need approval by someone high up in the food chain. I predict that if RedHat is going to offer their distribution for download, that most people outside Germany will prefer that over a beta from SuSE, no matter how small the difference between the beta and the GA version is (because you cannot tell). And when a real installation is considered then the case is clear. When a solution based on Linux for S/390 is going into production there probably is little resistance to pay for some support that you can recognize as necessary for the installation. Typically a mainframe shops more frequently pays for software they do not use than use software without a license. As a systems programmer I would need to have some feeling about what type of support SuSE or RedHat would be delivering so I can convince my management. Rob
