By John Leyden, VNU Net
UK Linux users yesterday complained that they are still not
getting enough vendor support, particularly when they first embrace
the open source operating system, even though vendors are becoming
more commercially minded.
During a debate today at the Linux Expo 2000 show in London
there were widespread complaints among Linux users, primarily from
academic institutions, that support for Linux installations was
lacking. There was also a call for vendors to be more proactive in
selling to universities.
Tim Chown, systems manager at Southampton University, said:
“Linux has historically had a self-help reputation, but people are
now looking to get commercial support.”
Simon Moores, head of The Research Group, who chaired the
discussion, said: “There is a thirst for education about Linux but
some frustration at how hard it is to get support.”
He added that the difficulty in finding someone who could build
Linux systems might lead to a heavier reliance on Linux user
groups. “Self-help, or finding information on the internet, is
quite a plausible way to build a Linux system,” he said.
Predictably, among the large crowd of Linux enthusiasts and
developers gathered at the show, which was at least double the
number who attended the inaugural show last year, the reliability
of Windows as an operating system continued to draw sharp
criticism.
John Terpstra, vice president of community relations at Turbo
Linux, claimed that Windows NT made mistakes in executing
instructions at least 20 per cent of the time.
“Our research has showed that a proprietary closed source system
can’t hold water and is fundamentally flawed,” he said.
The two-day show ends tomorrow. vnunet.com spoke exclusively
with Red Hat chief executive Matt Szulik at the event and will be
publishing the interview next week.