[NTLUG:Discuss] Non-subscription enterprise licenses?

[Hank Ivy]

On Wednesday 07 October 2009 09:57:59 pm Chris Cox wrote:
> > I don't argue much with vendor support, but it's a shame there is often
> > no flexibility in management decisions.  When I ran my own company I had
> > almost no vendor support for anything at first because I couldn't afford
> > it.  As I got up steam I found myself uninterested in vendor support for
> > software.  All our key stuff ran under Linux, and I felt that if I had
> > no vendor support it amounted to evolutionary pressure to be
> > self-sustaining.
> >
> > That's completely out of step with the world, I know.
>
> Not as out of step as you might think.  More and more, people are
> finding that vendor support is pretty poor.  Shoot, I can't even
> find a good salesman... sigh....  things are going downhill.

Years ago, I was a part of vendor support.  We were GOOD.  But all of our 
customers were multi-million dollar customers.  We had incentive.  Now 
customers buy cheap, and get what they paid for.

If you want value for your support dollar, you need to understand your 
business.  What application, or hardware is critical to your business?  Is it 
critical immediately, like your local area network, or a payroll application?  
Or is it something you could survive without for a week or two, like a 
compiler?  Are your needs generic (like every other customer) or special (like 
supporting 10 to 20 languages including several oriental languages like 
Japanese)?  Be prepared to carefully choose vendors and pay more for the kind 
of support required for the critical and special needs.

P.S. Do you know the difference between a car salesman and a computer salesman?  
The car salesman knows when he is lying. 

-- 
Hank Ivy

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