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Re: commercial support for openldap
I'm sorry...I just can't resist replying...
<soapbox>
I like Open Source. I use it a lot myself, because I like to spend
hours and hours compiling things and rummaging through .h files...
But I like my car, too, and I couldn't tear down and rebuild a
carburator if it still had one. Nor would I be interested in having
open source to any of the on-board computers so I could
tweek the automatic transmission controlls.
Back in the good old days of radio, you had to have a license
from the FCC that showed you knew how to calculate field
strengths, output power, and heat generation to have permission
to send signals. Receivers were sold with whiskers and crystals
for folks too lazy to go out and pick up the parts themselves.
Solder was usually left to the purchaser.
Eventually we moved on.
Yes, real engineers build things themselves.
But real customers leave it to the professionals, because they have
real lives to live.
I'm sitting here running a dinky little home web site, and I find myself
dealing with DNS denial of service attacks, xntp, ftpd, sshd, ipchains,
smtp, apache, ldap, imap/pop3, and it's limited to that because I
don't use nfs nor YP/nis nor samba, and that's just on the linux boxes.
Win2k and NetWare 5.1 add NCP, NDS, NDPS, ADS, Microsoft printing and
filing, all before I get to any of the applications and services I really use
to do my consulting job.
I keep buying my mother Macintoshes to do her geneology, because
she just needs an appliance to do email (her browser and Eudora
configurations are always getting screwed up anyway, because she's
legally blind and has trouble doing fine mouse controls in the menus)
and stuff.
Mass markets are built on products, not hobbies. And the Open Source
religion seems to be bound and determined to try to get dear old mom
to get up close and friendly with gcc, which just ain't gonna happen.
</soapbox>
Sorry for the rant.
Ed
=================
Ed Reed
Reed-Matthews, Inc.
+1 801 796 7065
http://www.Reed-Matthews.COM
>>> Rob Tanner <rtanner@linfield.edu> 09/23/00 09:14AM >>>
Let me, in fact, offer a concrete example of Ben's point. When we
originally experimented with IMAP at Linfield we used the open source
imap4 server from Carnegie-Mellon. When we decided to go production,
in order to insure support we went with a commercial version of the CMU
server offered by Simeon, aka Esys and now, Messaging Direct. However,
the quality of the support in non-existent (a more expressive adjective
comes to mind but I should probably use my better manners in public)
and response time is equally bad -- and to think, we'e paying for that
excuse for support. We have already dropped their LDAP server (we
didn't get enough support to even fully implement it) and the IMAP
server is next on the chopping block. And the reason: the combination
of peer and developer support over email lists like this one is far
superior to that of Messaging Direct's commercial support.
I might also add that having source code means I can also look at the
problems myself and do enhancement's and so really tailor the software
to the needs of Linfield -- the expression I heard somewhere "If you
haven't got the source, it's not software" is very applicable.
-- Rob
--On 09/23/00 09:40:08 AM -0400 Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 22, 2000 at 11:22:01AM -0700, Adam Shand wrote:
>>
>> i was wondering if there is any commercial group that offers support
>> contracts for openldap. i'm interested in using at work but
>> management may not buy off on it if there isn't commercial support
>> available from someone.
>
> IMO, your management needs to realize the significant differences in
> commercial software, in which commercial support is a requirement, and
> open source software, in which support from the developers is far
> better. I mean, if you go the way of Netscape Directory server for
> example, would you ever get to talk to the people who actually write
> the code? Would you ever be able to apply fixes on your own? Would
> you ever get a legitimate bug fixed within a few hours, days, or even
> weeks?
>
> You might want to try a different approach :)
>
> Ben
>
> --
> -----------=======-=-======-=========-----------=====------------=-=
> ------ / Ben Collins -- ...on that fantastic voyage... --
> Debian GNU/Linux \ ` bcollins@debian.org --
> bcollins@openldap.org -- bcollins@linux.com '
> `---=========------=======-------------=-=-----=-===-======-------=-
> -=---'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
/\_\_\_\_\ /\_\ /\_\_\_\_\_\
/\/_/_/_/_/ /\/_/ \/_/_/_/_/_/ QUIDQUID LATINE DICTUM SIT,
/\/_/__\/_/ __ /\/_/ /\/_/ PROFUNDUM VIDITUR
/\/_/_/_/_/ /\_\ /\/_/ /\/_/
/\/_/ \/_/ /\/_/_/\/_/ /\/_/ (Whatever is said in Latin
\/_/ \/_/ \/_/_/_/_/ \/_/ appears profound)
Rob Tanner
UNIX and Networks Manager
Linfield College, McMinnville OR
(503) 434-2558 <rtanner@linfield.edu>