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HP to give 24/7 support for Linux
tomsky sent us more good news from the world of Commercial
Support for Linux.
Hewlett-Packard Company today announced the availability
of HP Linux support services.
Another source of 24/7 support for Linux, from
another long term player no less.
Posted by Mike@ABC:
I bet this will help a lot of skittish businesses adopt Linux in the short term. And it helps toast all those pesky arguments about how Linux supposedly has no tech support.
Not to mention that all of these companies creating support networks will be hiring...!
Excellent!
24/7 Linux tech support, with guaranteed response times, from a reputable "name" like Hewlett Packard is certainly good news. It should ease the greater use of Linux in the corporate world.
And as a side benefit, this blows a great big hole in the FUDmeisters' case against Linux as an OS suitable for business.
I've been doing this kind of thing for years.
I simply ask a Microsoft worshipper, "when you call Microsoft for tech-support, how often are you satisfied with the result?"
Of course, the answer is never better than "seldom", and is typcially "never."
However, big names like HP offering Linux 24/7 support is a good thing for Linux acceptance.
A 24/7 support system is a mandatory feature in the minds of many (heck, most) pointy-haired manager types, even if the people actually having to keep the systems running know the 24/7 support is worthless or nearly so.
24/7 from "big" names like HP will help Linux get accepted by the pointy-hairs. No doubt about it.
This is exactly what the suits have been asking for. Red Hat and Pacific Hi-Tech can talk all they want, but when a major player like HP has the coporate credibility of billions in sales and decades in the industry. When HP steps up and says they will keep the SAP server running, IS managers relax. They go out, play a round of golf, have a few beers, maybe go to a movie. Remember, IS managers don't care about Open Source, or proprietary systems, or monopoly, or The Right Thing. They care about reliability, scalability, data integrity, and uptime.
Frankly, I'm surprised they could pull it off. I work in an HP shop, and believe me, it's almost impossible for HP to move this fast on ANYTHING. HP will be a big player in Linux for the forseeable future, if only because several layers of management must have staked their entire careers on this move.