What does it take to support Opensource and Linux

Let's walk on the support side of the software world for a moment.

There is a lot of talk, postulating and plain old FUD about what support is and should be in the FOSS world.

Of course, we can break the topic into separate areas of discussion.

Commercial Support: Usually a subscription based opportunity provided by the distro or software provider themselves. Fees are involved and often based on per-user basis.

Third Party: Could be any local business or person that sells support services based on the distribution and software they have chosen to focus on. Also fee based. Both on subscription per-user and per-instance.

Community: This is the information and support provided by Linux Community distributions and software providers. This is offered mostly through access to Wiki's, forums and mailing lists. Most often access to these venues is free or no cost, but some are accessible through a subscription fee to the service.

Local: These are your in house staff who are already providing support for your business or group or in your own house. These people are employed by your business or maybe just a community volunteer. A neighbor or family member could even fit the bill. Most of their capabilities depend on the training and experience they have achieved individually. Cost depends on the relationship one has with them.

These areas and types of support are not necessarily stand alone solutions. in fact, They interact quite a bit.

if you are a local support provider and you have been employed by a business, it is likely that you will rely not only on the education you went through and the on the job experience you have accumulated. you will also have learned to make use of Community solutions and Commercial ones as well.

Depending on the distribution and software being used in the environment you are working in, you will likely pay for access to the fee or subscription based support outlets on your own, or ask to be recompensed for them. Perhaps the organization you are employed or contracted by pays for all the commercial and third party access you will need already.

More often than not, the vast majority of information one might need to do almost anything is available somewhere in the Free, Community landscape. To obtain it though, requires a bit of elbow grease and perseverance. You will have to spend time tracking down through internet and forum sesarches various posts and articles related to your subject.

You will also find that there is often documentation provided by the software developers in the form of help or man pages. either way, it is sometimes time consuming and tedious, but you will usually find what you need.

In some cases, where time is limited and resources are slight, third party solution providers and Commercial providers have indexed and much more direct access to information that is needed. It will cost some money, but it can help fill in critical gaps of knowledge.

Sometimes, there is no better place to get help than from those who wrote or developed the software. The commercial support resources from a distributor or developer can get accurate information fast. Again, this is going to cost money. It depends on the time frame, scale of the project and the environment you are working in to determine if using it is an acceptable avenue to go down.

I have seen people in support fields with an arms length of certifications and degrees turn out to know less than nothing and screw projects up royally. Then I have seen people with a basic education in support, maybe a one or two year degree, be a dynamic solution provider without all the badges and decorations. How does this happen?

Usually it occurs not because a person already has undergone a certain level of formal education, although having said formal education can be a tremendous starting point, it is more about caring about what you do. if the highly educated person doesn't really love the field they are in or has a bad attitude about working with people they are likely to not invest themselves, their time or their energy into doing the best job all the time. This can really bring the opinion the public has of highly educated support people down.

Often the guy or gal we meet with less formal education but does a bang up job anyway does so because they have learned to maximize their resources and how to find the information they need that they might have otherwise gotten in a more advanced formal education. It is due to their sheer drive and interest to provide such great results.

When people of either background love their field and are good natured toward the people they work with and for, the result is often outstanding performance and service.

Anyway, back on track.

When implementing Linux and other Open Source solutions, these are things to consider in the planning stages.

Where will I get support?

How much am I willing to pay for it?

What specialized software will I be using that might require paid support?

Will I be doing support in-house or will I need to outsource it to a third party provider?

Regardless of the Operating System or software you end up using, support is a question area everyone has to have answers for. It will be one of the biggest impacts on the environment you are in both in terms of productivity and financially.