[Info-vax] Ask the Wizard archives?

[Tim Sneddon]

Jim Causey <jimcausey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Red Hat is also in a position of tremendous market success and can afford
> (market-share wise) the risks coming from milking their customers over
> documentation ??? and benefit from a massive pool of engineers who have
> trained up on free documentation and source-code access for decades.

Am I the only one who thinks that is an odd statement to make?  I'm not
trying to advocate for VSI to charge, or not charge (that is for them to
do, they don't need me).  However, what I get from your statement above
is that a company should give their information away for free until they
are big enough to make their customers pay for it?  That seems like a
bit of a ridiculous model.

Not to mention...what are they gaining by giving it away for free?  If
somebody wants access to the information and thinks it should be given
for free, they are certainly not suddenly going to become a paying
customer.

[...snip...]

> 
> IMO it???s even short-sighted for Red Hat, as this will continue the
> trend of startups and other engineers moving to other distros.  But
> Red Hat can afford that right now.

I can't say I agree.  There will always be people who want something for
nothing, including me.  However, there is a distinction made between
those who think they are entitled to it and those who understand that
they are not.  There will always be justifications, etc.  However, the
simple fact remains that someone who is uninterested in paying for the
support resources is not going to become a paying customer.

At least, that is what makes sense to me.

Regards, Tim.