[ILUG] Out of control Linux Install Charges - And bandwith and everything IT related in this country,

[Robert Sweetnam]

AJ McKee wrote:
> So I am wondering, a quick straw poll here, how many of you here in
> your job or whatever, are paying such charges? Do you think they can
> be justified and are you happy in paying for them? Do you have any
> viable alternatives for small businesses to investigate? Or care to
> share your experiences with me?
>
> I am just stunned at how outrages pricing has gotten.
>

All Linux support in house..

Recent upgrade of Lotus Domino servers resulted in two locations in 
China, Vienna and our location here in Co. Cork migrating Domino from NT 
to Linux (CentOS).

IMO, paying support especially for a relatively obscure OS (i.e. more 
MCSE's about!) means that although the costs are significantly reduced 
for the ISP, the customer pays through the nose. Most likely because any 
*nix heads have to be contracted in.

Mind you though, I look after a 1996 vintage HP3000 and support for said 
machine is close on to five figures a year. So given the ten years since 
the machine was put into production it has cost about ten times the 
hardware costs in maintenence but ironically hasn't needed any! So I 
guess in a nutshell you will be paying for piece of mind. Which of 
course is a good thing generally... but then there aren't too many 
around who are familiar with MPE-IX.

Cheers
Robert