[ic] Beima's Response!

Jim Balcom jim@idk-enterprises.com
Mon, 2 Apr 2001 19:38:02 -0400 (EDT)


On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Ed LaFrance wrote:

EL>>I really can't understand this attitude.  RH/Akopia has to make money 
EL>>somehow!  They distribute what is arguably one of the best e-commerce 
EL>>products for the microcomputer platform - completely free of charge.  They 
EL>>have a staff of many talented people and undoubtedly all the overhead that 
EL>>goes along with that.  It should come as no great surprise to anyone that a 
EL>>"premium" price will be paid when hiring their services - and I quoted 
EL>>that, because honestly, $180/hour is PEANUTS compared to price commanded by 
EL>>many, many other firms (most of them not even the authors of the products 
EL>>they use).

I fully understand that they need to make some money. I can appreciate
that. And, I would have paid them $180/hour.

The fact of the matter is that they wanted a 3 hour MINIMUM to do a 1
hour installation - or $540 for an hour of work!

Yes, I realize that RH needs to make money. I learned that the hard way
a couple of years ago when I was having problems installing Linux on a
particular box, and I paid RH a premium for the software so that I
could get Tech Support. They then went out of their way to find
obstacles to avoid providing that support. I never did get the first
ounce of support from RH and I went back to Slackware.

Yes, I would have paid Akopia $180/hour to set up the server. But, as
was quickly learned, it does NOT take 3 hours for even a total novice
to get the server up and running!


-= Jim =-

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Jim's Linux-Operated Underground Bomb Shelter
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Tagline for Monday, April 02, 2001 at 19:30 PM:
I've had fun before. This isn't it.

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This Linux System has been up 71 hours  

My web page: http://www.idk-enterprises.com
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