Re: SCO drop loyal resellers...
From: Jeff Liebermann (jeffl_at_comix.santa-cruz.ca.us)
Date: 10/19/03
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Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 15:53:51 -0700
On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:40:38 +0100, FyRE <FyRE@toktik.demon.ku.oc.x>
wrote:
>On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 09:04:18 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
><jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote:
>
>[...]
>
>>That's great. So, now *YOU* are the support person. What happens
>>when you go away? That's the question asked by every one of my
>>customers. They don't wanna be left hanging and prefer a vendor
>>supported solution, even if they know I can do a better job. Since
>>I've accumulated many of my customers who were abandoned for various
>>reasons, that's a real concern. What do you tell them?
>You tell them you'll document your method for installing and
>configuring their system. With such documentation, they could either
>perform the task themselves, or pass said docs onto any other
>consultant who could presumably use it to get the required results.
My larger customers pay me to document just about everything. Work
log, change history, order of install, patches, fixes, tweaks, tunes,
settings, serial numbers, sources, vendors, ksh history, etc. You
name it, it's scribbled down somewhere. I spent about 12 years doing
that for one customer resulting in a huge mass of searchable
documentation, screen dumps, and printouts. So, 18 months ago, I
celebrated by having the body mechanics do some major inside plumbing
work. I was otto commission for about 6 months. I told them to hire
a full time admin as I was unavailable. They hired a Linux admin who
declared that he didn't have the time to dig through my documentation,
that Linux was the answer to all problems, and that SCO products
aren't good enough. So, he embarked on a crusade to replace SCO OSR5
servers that had been working just fine for 12 years with the latest
Red Hat release (7.2 methinks). The only concession I received was
that he would get a shiney new server instead of trashing the existing
OSR5 box. He did manage to get a Linux mail server up and running
fairly well. After about a year, he left in disgust. The problem
wasn't uptime or reliability. It was his constant tinkering generated
so many service interruptions and suprises that the customer was a bit
more than irate. His replacement is also a Linux type but with a much
more realistic attitude towards what the customer needs and wants. 3
months and methinks he's sold the idea of a Linux main server to
management. No clue if he read my documentation. I know he looks at
it occassionally. At this point, I question the value of documenting
everything.
-- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060 (831)421-6491 pgr (831)336-2558 home http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us jeffl@cruzio.com
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