Linked by Fred McCann on Wed 25th Aug 2004 21:00 UTC
I recently had a bad experience with an application service provider that illustrated a growing problem with technology companies- lack of service and support. We have grown complacent as technology consumers and we allow vendors to offer very poor levels of service that wouldn't be allowed in other markets.
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The best of open source "support" is truly remarkable, but it's catch as catch can to connect with whomever can (and will) help. That's understandable. It is, I think, largely driven by intrinsic motivations on the part of the individuals who undertake it with little or no funding to support them and there's certainly no infrastructure which guarantees to connect helpers with those in need of help. I've experienced the best possible open source support and I've also gotten nothing (it was in re: Gnome and KDE vs. Sun Ultra 5 sound support under Linux), but I don't apply a value judgement to the latter. It would be unfair. There may be someone out there who can help me and I just haven't found them yet.
It's a pity though, that commercial support infrastructures still manage to produce no or poor results.