[ic] Pee-Poor Documentation Rant

[interchange-users@interchange.redhat.com (Dan Browning)]

> On Monday, January 14, 2002, at 10:10  AM, Matthew Schick wrote:
> 
> > Ya know, this software IS free.  Meaning Mike and RedHat 
> don't make a
> > dime from folks downloading and using it.  Their money is made from
> > doing development.  Why in the world should they pay a 
> full-time staff
> > to write documentation that would actually hurt their cash flow?  I
> > always love hearing the rants of folks that get something 
> for free, and
> > then have to bitch because they don't get exactly what they want.
> >
> 
> Actually it is in red Hat's best interest to make the docs as easy to 
> use as possible.  The more people use it the more critical mass the 
> product achieves which means more and more people will know 
> and want to 
> use it which opens up more consulting possibilities.  If Red Hat 
> approaches some customers, those customers are more likely to use the 
> product and accept Red Hat's proposal if the software is well 
> known and 
> accepted as an ecommerce solution, no matter who did the install.
> 
> Chad

Chad knows what he is saying.  Does anyone know how Oracle makes money?
Exhorbitant licensing fees, right?  

Wrong.  Oracle makes 2/3rds+ revenue from consulting/services, not
licensing.  Red Hat has followed the same model, except that they have
traded the 1/3rd revenue for increased visibility and
consulting/services through the open source model (it's not rocket
science). 

+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Dan Browning, Sr. Tech Consultant
| Kavod Technologies, 1498 SE Tech Center Pl Ste 170
| Vancouver, WA 98683  <dan.browning@kavod.com>
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