RE: [LARTC] Dead Gateway Detection & BGP

["Rangi Biddle" <rangi@ngen.net.nz>]

Hi Guys,

Well here's my two cents worth regarding this whole thing.

Firstly I can appreciate where Grant is coming from.  There are a number of
things that aren't so commonly done with Linux that the community currently
doesn't provide answers for and obviously there are people out there that
know how to do things that the community cannot answer.  The issue I have
with what Grant wants to provide (re: $1/min rate via email) is that I have
no control over the amount of time that is spent writing an email or seeking
answers to my questions meaning I could spend $100's if not $1,000's of
dollars getting a partial answer (not implying that that would be the case),
but is a point of concern.  I myself have been an active supporter of OSS
and have contributed code and answers to not so common questions or have
gone out of my way to assist others.  Unfortunately, in this instance, it is
I that am seeking help and am now being asked to pay for an answer to my
question.  Sounds somewhat like visiting a shrink.  In some instances, it
doesn't quite surprise me that Linux isn't more mainstream and this being a
primary example of it.  If more of us knew how to do <insert task here> I
believe Linux would become more mainstream because there are more of us
available to actively support Linux systems which, as most of us are aware
of, is the primary concern of most that purchase a Linux solution "Who is
going to look after it if you're not here or available?".

Bottom line is this, my boss refuses to pay someone that neither he nor I
know.  Primarily because this same person wants to provide a solution to us
for an indeterminate price and if there is an issue at any point we are left
with no way of knowing how to fix the issue and again be left with paying an
indeterminate price for further support.  What my boss is more happy to do
is pay for a commercial solution regardless of price.  It is mainly because
he is aware of what he must pay before he purchases the solution and also
because he knows that it will do what he wants including support if we have
an issue.  Obviously this would mean scrapping Linux out of the picture even
with the amount of high regard I give to it.

So Grant, I'll put the ball back in your court.

Regards,

Rangi

-----Original Message-----
From: lartc-bounces@mailman.ds9a.nl [mailto:lartc-bounces@mailman.ds9a.nl]
On Behalf Of Grant Taylor
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:40 PM
To: Mail List - Linux Advanced Routing and Traffic Control
Subject: Re: [LARTC] Dead Gateway Detection & BGP

On 8/27/2007 9:49 PM, Mohan Sundaram wrote:
> Such a service is a much needed complement to forums to aid adoption 
> of FOSS. I was doing this for a fairly long while as a knowhow 
> provider.

*nod*

> There is a very thin line one needs to walk. Forums being used to 
> vend services is frowned upon, rightly so. It is the concept of free 
> sharing that gets violated. Even when I was a consultant, I used to 
> offer complete advice to forums simply because it gave me 
> satisfaction. I'd learnt a lot from the forums and this was my way of 
> returning the coin.

Agreed.  Normally I do tend to offer up the complete solution, 
especially if said solution or one very similar can be found elsewhere 
on the net with a bit of Googleing.  However when the solution in 
question is that of something that was not readily available on the net 
and one that we spent a lot of time putting the puzzle pieces together 
we tend to hold on to some of it.

> There is a definite need and opportunity. Reasonable is dependent on 
> a lot of factors and the same service yields different values to 
> different customers.

Indeed.

> My philosophy: I think it is definitely possible to differentiate 
> between personal time and company time. It is like social work. If 
> you do something on your personal time that does not eat into your 
> co's biz, I believe it is good to do so free. Even if you did do it 
> such, so long as you do not charge for it, I believe it is not 
> unethical.

I'm not sure what you are trying to get at there.  I think you are 
saying that if you do it as a personal time, then you probably should 
find some other sort of personal gratification.  If you do it as company 
time then it is more understandable if it is charged for.  Am I any 
where close?

I can see how trolling a forum / news group looking for people asking 
questions and posting multiple follow up posts only saying "the company 
that I work for can provide you with a solution for X $s" is not so 
good.  However if you are an active member of a forum / news group and 
offer advice and pointers in the right direction to the solution of the 
question and state that "the company I work for can probably help 
provide a more complete solution contact me if you are interested" is a 
bit different?

I'm not trying to argue any thing here, just completely understand what 
you are saying and making sure that you understand what I'm saying 
(making sure that communications is happening both ways) while 
discussing this.

Thank you for taking time to reply to my post.



Grant. . . .
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