James White wrote:
On September 24, 2005 08:22 am, Andrew Fisk wrote:
Obviously I have a vested intrest in commercial support for open
source software, someone who posts a request for immediate support
and phone # is asking for more direct help, and I think that offering
services for money is within the realm of user support (although a
phone call might have been more effective than a reply to the
list!)-- it's not like the guy was spamming the list with flashing
neon html, just offering another user support option.
Andy
Spitfire Computer Services
441 Beaver Street
Suite 202
Sewickley, PA 15143
Phone (412) 749-0162
Fax: (412) 749-0203
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.spitcomp.com
On Sep 23, 2005, at 6:39 PM, James White wrote:
On September 23, 2005 06:29 pm, Mark Herring wrote:
Not sure that advertising one's services is the appropriate use of
this
site.....anyone know the official policy?
James White wrote:
On September 22, 2005 02:03 pm, Kumar, Amba Jane wrote:
i can't seem to get open office to open my (important) project
that i
spent hours creating in scalc. i think i may need to uninstall/
install.
please contact me immediately via email or phone: 831-460-9923.
Am I to assume that you are a "Paying Customer"?
If so, then my Canadian company, Resolution I.T., inc. , will be
pleased
to have a representative contact you immediately for an hourly-based
consultation on your problem. Emergency non-contract rates are
$75.00CDN/hour (of course our volunteer time is free - but you
get it when
we have the time away from paying clients).
It is seldom required to uninstall OpenOffice to solve a problem.
If this truly is an emergency situation such as described above,
please
forward the document to myself via email. We offer 24/7 service for
problems just like yours and look forward to hearing from you.
If security is an issue at ALL, please use my public key (below) to
encrypt your document:
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I am not sure that it is appropriate either - and I have never done
so in the
past. I am here purely to volunteer.
Having said that - when someone sounds like a paying customer who
expects
their answer "now" and "by phone" - I am conditioned like Pavlov's
fabled
dog to jump up and salute. Heck, I have to pay for this beautiful
home
somehow!
If I have broken a rule here, then I apologize humbly - and further
add my
agreement to the rule that we are all volunteers here working from
only the
goodness of our souls.
And sometimes volunteers don't jump and salute for free. ;-)
--
James White
GpP: DB56 8EF6
If this helped you, please take the time to rate the value of this
information:
http://rate.affero.net/frozenJim/ResolutionIT.ca/
Thanks
I thank you sir, for you comment on my behalf. It is a rather important issue
I think and I would be pleased to see it resolved. Perhaps the OpenSource
world needs a well-understood method for letting a user in distress say "HELP
ME!!! I WILL PAY! JUST PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELP ME" (I only ever
accept messages in SHOUTING CAPS from paying clients ;-) ).
Many use OpenSource because it is GOOD and SAFE and OpenSource - not because
it is cheap. No corporate environment - having a question at a critical time
- can afford to wait around for answers. Friday evenings are prime time for
office managers to begin to panic because all support is gone home for the
weekend and the problem needs to be resolved BEFORE they return to work on
Monday morning.
Sometimes people do not have the time to wait for free help. In those cases
they wish to pay for the professionals to just get the job done as quickly as
possible. Money is nothing when the report is due Monday morning - but you
can't finish it because of problems with the software.
When someone seems obviously distressed and supplies telephone information
over the internet, I feel it only decent to allow her the OPTION of paying
for immediate "I-shall-drop-everything-and-work-all-night-if-need-be"
support.
It is to this situation that I had presented myself. Were one to read the
message closely, one would see that I did re-iterate the fact that I am
pleased to answer questions for free. But I CAN BE BOUGHT! You can pay to
put me on an aircraft to Zimbabwe tonight - I will bring you Canadian bacon,
some Canadian beers and a Touque - and I, or one of my technicians, will be
there in the morning to work on your problems for so long as you can afford
my company's services.
One further note: If you look at the link I include in my signature - it also
asks for money - but not for myself. If I have helped someone with my
volunteer time, I am always pleased if they make a donation to the two
charities listed there. It is a neat program (check it out!) for support
personnell in our new world of OpenSource and Volunteerism. In short: I am
not HERE for the money - but this IS what I do for a living.
I agree that there are times when it is not feasible to wait for
free support. I still, however, think than advertising on this
list is inappropriate. As an alternative, I suggest that a
separate page with a list of companies and consultants, and their
contact information, who wish to offer such services be maintained.
Such inquiries could then be answered with a referral to that
list.
--
Dale Erwin
Salamanca 116
Pueblo Libre
Lima 21 PERU
Tel. +51(1)461-3084
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