[plug] Commercial Help in LUGs

[Jon Miller]

Interesting enough, I belong to several UG (Novell, Linux, MySQL, PHP, CA, etc) and it is a general acceptance that most folks on the list are using the OS for various purposes.  It is not our business to inquire if the product is being used in a commercial enterprise. In my book the general use of any list is to share information.  This doesn't take away from someone making a living doing support.  If the problem is minor and requires a simple answer this is where I look.  If it's more involved and will take up a great deal of time then I look for a consultant that can deliver the results in a timely, cost effective manner.  
If most list were for the hobbyist, the amount of information available would be greatly diminished due to the fact that in the "real working" world there are different needs and uses for the software.  How many folks uses a VPN in their home?


Jon L. Miller, MCNE, CNS
Director/Sr Systems Consultant
MMT Networks Pty Ltd
http://www.mmtnetworks.com.au

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
 is trying to please everybody." -Bill Cosby



>>> meyerri at au1.ibm.com 11:05:12 AM 20/02/2003 >>>

----- Forwarded by Richard Meyer/Australia/Contr/IBM on 20/02/2003 10:58 AM
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                                               Subject:  [plug] Commercial Help in LUGs                                             
                      20/02/2003 10:55                                                                                              
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>Hi
>Having recently joined your list at the Linux conf, I am also a member
>of a few other LUGs. I have noticed that people on this list often post
>help for their commercial enterprise and I was wondering if this is
>standard practice on this list. Other lists I am on can get quite
>indignant at some questions whilst on this list, nobody says anything
>and sometimes even helps!

Seems so, and it was std practise on the last LUG list I was a member of,
and why not? After all the only thing that unites us we use/like/admire
Linux, and whether we use it for commercial or hobby use, we probably can
all learn from someone else. Anyway who's to say what is commercial, and
otherwise - some guys do work for political groups or gather computers and
refurbish them for computer literacy projects - are they commersial or not?
- who cares. If they can help me with a problem or I can help them, let's
do it.

>Often I find the need for other peoples help and posting to the list
>will save me hours of web surfing not to mention the costs of hiring.

Now, the last phrase is depressing - we're doing someone out of a job.

>LinuxGuru

RichardM