The Motley Fool Discussion Boards

Previous Page

Stocks R / RedHat Software


Subject:  Re: Redhat and possible support competition Date:  9/13/1999  3:18 PM
Author:  TimBini Number:  1562 of 9070

>>What is going to
>> happen to Redhat's support income when companies >>like IBM, sgi, Compaq, HP,
>> and maybe even Sun get interested and start offering >>support.

Start?...Right now if you buy an IBM Netfinity server
you get 90 days of support to get the opsys installed
and running, and connected to a client on a network.
This is live phone support, and starts from the first
time you call into the support center, not from date of purchase of the machine. This already is better than out of the box Red Hat. You can also buy support packs that are cheaper than Red Hat's. Don't quote me on this but I think I heard RHAT was about $400 a call.
IBM is having a huge amount of training going on world wide right now in house and providing it through the normal international IBM training centers. And I have'nt even gone into the actual Services division, IGS, that is ramping up very quickly and providing support and solutions throughout the world.

I, too, have wondered how RHAT will compete against the various companies that will be clamoring to provide support. The trainers they use are contracted out. There is really no inherent gain you get because it is a "Red Hat" specific course. It's not like your getting trained by the developers or anything.