Why redhat will never get another dime of my money.

[Julie Felton]

>>> ewilts at ewilts.org 3/31/2005 10:28 AM >>>
On Thu, Mar 31, 2005 at 08:30:55AM -0500, Julie Felton wrote:
> I can't speak much about RH tech support as I haven't used them
often
> enough to form a personal opinion, but I hope (keeping my fingers
> crossed) that they're responsive when I need them for something
> critical.  I will say that I've heard numerous horror stories about
> their support from several people over the years.  

Red Hat has (I think) over 500,000 subscriptions.  You've probably
heard
ocmplaints from 10 or 20 customers.  It's simple human nature to
complain loud and clear when things don't go your way but to not say
anything when you're happy.

Agreed.  I've been in IT long enough to know that I'm totally invisible
until something goes wrong.  :)

There are multiple pieces to support and web/phone support is just one
of those pieces.  The few times I've needed them, Red Hat tech support
has done a good job.

On the other hand, I use RHN and pull down RHEL patches frequently and
Red Hat has *NEVER* let me down (Fedora, yes, but not RHEL).  This is
a
piece that most people forget about when they consider their support
subscription - the updates are typically more important than the phone
or web support.

I will say that I LOVE RHN...

>If you're going to pay $10k/year or more for support, they *better* be
good.

I've gotten better support out of Red Hat for well under $10K per year
than I have for some software that costs us over $100K.

> Regarding software quality (or even support quality)...
> 
> Personally, I understand that nothing is perfect; and just because
an
> app works flawlessly on one system, that doesn't mean it's good for
all
> environments.  HOWEVER, customers should have some options.  As it
> stands, we spend sometimes hundreds of thousands for software, and if
it
> doesn't work in our environment or if it doesn't do what the sales
rep
> and "demo" claims, we're left with a plastic disk and an unused
license.

Been there, done that.  Don't like it either.

>  Businesses seem to have no course of action for bad service, bad
> software, or snake oil.

How many people have successfully sued Microsoft for allowing a
security
vulnerability that caused them to be infected by a virus?  I'd bet the
number is 0 whereas millions of people have been affected.

Heck, I don't think a lawsuit should even be considered in a case like
that.  Ultimately, the virus writer should be held responsible for the
damage they cause.

> I suppose I have a real problem paying out cash to be someone's bug
> catcher - and then more for the patches  - and then more to resolve
> problems that the patches create.  It's not just RH either; I've had
> LOTS of issues with MS too (big surprise).  

And HP and EMC and Oracle and a lot of other big players.  We've been
burned by them all.



Red Hat has been one of the better companies to work with out there,
at
least for me and I deal with the "big boys" (see above) on a daily
basis.

-- 
Ed Wilts, RHCE
Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts at ewilts.org 
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program

-- 
redhat-list mailing list
unsubscribe mailto:redhat-list-request at redhat.com?subject=unsubscribe 
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list