On 10/04/07, Mark Rogers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Richard Forth wrote: > Also why not market the support side of things by introducing all new > customers who buy a machine powered by Linux, to the PLUG? I mean, I > know trading standards would have fits if you said this but it is > *sort of* a 24/7 free email tech support offering.....most importantly > with each new machine sold we'd have one more potential new member to > the LUG.
That wasnt quite what I had in mind actually. it was more an idea of selling the PCs with purely hardware guarantees, and NO support contracts for the OS, just preinstall it. Presumably this would be no problem because you'd do your homework and get all the hardware and ONLY that which is on the HCL for a particular release or flavour. Therefore no issues getting certain bits working because it would all be "detected" on installation and work just fine. After that its pretty much "Sorry - you are on your own unless the hardware has failed". After all, linux is so customizable and open source, I am not sure how "supporting" people can really work. I mena its not like windows where its so locked down, all desktops are pretty much identical. But you could point your new customer to the LUG as a possible resource for help and advice. I wasnt suggesting we make any income from this, likewise that we should not be "contractually" obliged to provide any support to certain companies or their customers, just an idea to get you round the whole support issue, and get the LUG some extra marketing for new members at the same time. I also agree I too would have a hard time agreeing to help a commercial venture set up Linux boxes for profits that we would never see part of. The idea was that with every desktop / laptop you sell to an end user, we get a potential new member, and you dont have to worry about obligations to support the OS, because "that was never part of the package you sold" - wink wink. Like I said it was a bit of a crazy idea, and I am not sure what effect the LUG membership takeup would have on the meetings (would we need bigger venues etc...) which again brings its own problems too. Just an idea, and thanks for the feedback so far, but I think I wasnt clear enough before. Hope that helps
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