On Tuesday 27 December 2005 11:40, Andrew Fisk wrote: >I should preface this note by stating that I make a living providing >support for Open Source software, and do charge customers for media >if they request it ($5.00/CD), I am not sure it is fair to call this >a scam (I am not even sure it is profitable). I would not "sell" >Open Office.org, and we do tell our customers they can download the >all the software we provide for free, but there are folks who want a >CD in hand, who don't care to take the time to download or learn how >to burn a CD and, if you are using Linux to extend the life of older >machines, a CD-RW may not be available. As a weekend mechanic, I am >often surprised when I hear someone just paid $150.00 to have $7.00 >worth of brake pads installed, but if you don't have the tools, the >time or the skills to handle the job your self, I understand why you >would pay for a professional to help and don't think the repair shop >is running a scam. I am not sure I see why software would be any >different. > >Even on this list we see requests for paid support and requests for >media, if someone responds with an offer to provide the requested >service the reaction from the list is usually horror that someone >might make money from this free product, but as a business owner, if >my staff are not productive because they can't figure out a new >office suite, the cost of free software can very quickly exceed that >of a commercial package. If there was no support available, what do >you think that business owner will tell his peers about OO.o at the >next Chamber of Commerce meeting? Isn't it better that the customer/ >user sees as many options as possible for both distribution and > support?
IMO, very well said, Andy. After all, not everyone who comes hat in hand looking for help on many of these lists is a qualified sysadmin. I try and do my own home network, and thats headache enough, with my dumb questions not only tolerated, but often answered in a manner that makes me learn something without making me feel like the dummy I can be at times. >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 Chuckle, now if somebody can't find you, you are doing a good job of hiding for the day :) >On Dec 26, 2005, at 4:36 PM, Eric Wood wrote: >> On Mon, 2005-12-26 at 07:48 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >>> I just checked on EBay, and the highest price I saw was around $8. >>> Most were >>> lower. >> >> They're probably spending more money on listing fees than they're >> actually making in profit. Therefor, this may be their way of >> promoting >> OOo. If so, they should have the key words "OpenOffice - an MS >> Microsoft Office compatible Suite XP 2000 2003" in their title so >> that people searching solely for MS Office would have this come up. >> >> Ebay prohibits the sale of alpha, beta, pirated, and oem software >> (unless you include some hardware!!). GPL (and other similar >> license) selling is okay. >> >> http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html >> >> -eric wood >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------- >>-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Cheers, Gene People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the word 'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's stupid bounce rules. I do use spamassassin too. :-) Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above message by Gene Heskett are: Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
