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[Fwd: Little correction]



Hi,

Here is an email I just got from a reporter in News.com which talks about Redhat
support prices, as well as official supports for Linux from vendors.

Anyone wanna open a support center (besides PF1) in Israel? :)

Hetz
--
Linux - The STABLE and FUN way to operate

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Well, actually, the one-year plan with Red Hat is $35,000, for 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; 24x7 is $60,000, I believe. I believe the 99.9 percent guarantee comes only with super-expensive models. I think it's clear that you don't have to pay for a support contract if you feel confident of your in-house abilities, regardless of which OS you choose; the support issue seems to come up in the context of reassuring nervous IT bigwigs. I didn't have the space to go into all the detail, but basically it seemed to me that Microsoft support was a lot cheaper--per incident or per year. But the more important issue, I believe, is that your Linux server isn't going to croak as often.

Thanks for writing!
sts



At 10:49 PM 1/29/99 +0200, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I just read your article named "Linux hits Microsoft where it hurts" and I 
>would
>like to correct you at a point.
>
>"Microsoft, though, points to guarantees from Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Data
>General for NT servers that stay up and running 99.9 percent of the time."
>
>In day to day business this issue is not working. I'm working at a full 
>based NT
>server ISP, and believe me - I don't have enough hair to count the times 
>that NT
>crashed, halted, did stupid things BY ITSELF.
>
>You could argue with me that maybe we don't know NT, but the people who 
>supports
>our servers are Microsoft Israel - no less than that - and it still crashes and
>requires a boot at least TWICE a week.
>
>Now, you can take a look at other commercial vendors who supports Linux now.
>Here is a small list: HP, Dell, Compaq, SGI, VA Research, and soon (probably
>next month) IBM. Now that's can cover the support issue.
>
>Oh, and about those support prices - you're talking about 10 incidents for
>2,995$ - if you have called Redhat and talked to those sales persons, you would
>have found a full year contract can be achieved for about $3,500. Microsoft for
>a year takes no less than $6,700, so please check your calculation. Don't 
>forget
>that once you have Unix admin in the company - then you don't need the support
>contract. Try to post a question on a newsgroups - I can guarantee you'll get
>answer in less than 1 hour, and that NOT like those guys from MS who all 
>they do
>is reading the answer from Tech Net.
>
>Just some points for you to think.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>Hetz Ben Hamo
>
>--
>Linux - The STABLE and FUN way to operate

Stephen Shankland, reporter
CNET News.com, 150 Chestnut St., San Francisco, CA 94111
415-395-7805 x1319

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