Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!vector!chip
From: chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US (Chip Rosenthal)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: SCO Support Service
Message-ID: <260@vector.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 7 Jun 89 03:30:21 GMT
References: <2874@netmbx.UUCP> <559@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> <2891@netmbx.UUCP> <730@xroads.UUCP>
Reply-To: chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US (Chip Rosenthal)
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Dallas Semiconductor
Lines: 34

In article <730@xroads.UUCP> jerry@xroads.UUCP (Jerry M. Denman) writes:
>This is how it should be.  I have frequently stated ( and will do so again)
>that the users should be supported by their dealers NOT by the developers. 
>If the brakes on your Chevy need fixed you don't call General Motors!  If
>your dealer cannot support the product that he sells you, FIND A NEW DEALER!

Nonsense.  This analogy is a nonsequiter.  How often does Chevy do recalls?
How often does SCO issue fixes?  When your Chevy crashes, people usually
die.  When your XENIX box does, people usually don't.  This is not a slam
of SCO, but rather that's the way the software industry is.  (I'm even
open to the argument that unix is more complex than an automobile, and
therefore is inherently doomed to be buggier.)

The day *you* can issue utility and kernel fixes is the day I buy my
support through dealership.  Granted, you can probably respond to my
requests faster than SCO can.  But the level of my needs are beyond your
support.  For the vast majority of users, this is probably not the case.

I would guess most support calls boil down to RTFM to the poor user.  And
for all the slams support folks get here, it really must take the patience
of a saint to do the job well.  However, if anybody tries to answer my
problem by just reading the manual to me, I'll bite their goddam ear off.
(Hey...I even know how to use the permuted index.)

So, don't take it personally if I cut out the middleman and purchase my
support direct from the factory.  I'll even pay bucks for it if it is
quality support.  The day operating systems are as stable as my Black&Decker
toaster, I will be willing to forgoe this.

Anyway, this is probably a topic which will probably turn into a boring
flame-fest if it goes any further, so, I've directed followups back to me.
-- 
Chip Rosenthal / chip@vector.Dallas.TX.US / Dallas Semiconductor / 214-450-5337
"I wish you'd put that starvation box down and go to bed" - Albert Collins' Mom