Three Takers Named for Microsoft's Linux Support 149
narramissic writes "According to an article on ITworld, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG, and AIG Technologies have signed on for Microsoft's technical support for Novell Inc.'s Suse Enterprise Linux. This follows last month's announcement of a deal between Novell and Microsoft that Steve Ballmer described as an effort to 'bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary-source software.' None of the companies cited the price of the support certificates, nor would they say how many they were activating. Even more interesting, Credit Suisse is a brand new cusomter for Novell."
Let the blind Microsoft bashing begin (Score:1, Interesting)
"Support" (Score:5, Interesting)
Honestly, the word "support" to me has almost no meaning anymore. It's been thrown out there so many times as the deciding factor in a purchase, however I've yet to see really useful support. I've dealt with companies big and small and have never resolved a difficult issue in less than an hour with their supplied support.
All I care about anymore is whether they give you the proper tools to solve the problem yourself. Proper documentation and the source code (yes, smaller companies will give you source code if you are big enough and that's the deal breaker). I'll take that over a level I phone jockey any day!
Re:Why? - Credit Suisse in particular (Score:3, Interesting)
You're not missing anything based on the evidence available to us. The conclusion is that there's something behind the scenes. It makes me wonder what sort of deals are being made between Microsoft and the directors at Novell.
Re:And so it begins. (Score:3, Interesting)
there would of been no arm twisting there.
Re:Blind MS bashing?! Are you kidding?! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why? - Credit Suisse in particular (Score:3, Interesting)
Wonder where they got their information?
Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"Support" (Score:3, Interesting)
None of that. It means "paid scapegoat", i.e. job security for IT professionals who, instead of getting fired for the inevitable IT problems, can shift the blame for those onto the company providing the "support".
How hard would it be (Score:1, Interesting)