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Re: RHEL (was: Re: gEDA-user: More footprint stuff)



> But RHEL costs ~$800 - $2500 *per year* for usable versions. If that's 
> not "screwing your customers for profit", then I don't know what is.

Most of that cost is for 24/7 phone support, which our customers feel
is a reasonable price for what they get.  Note: the way our company
works, your questions end up getting answered by engineers like
myself, not mindless drones like some other companies.

Do you think it's worth $800/year to be able to ask me questions and
get answers (and often patches) the same or next day?  That's our
usual turn-around time for gcc bug reports.  How much would it be
worth to be able to get 24 hour turn-around on bug reports for gEDA or
PCB?  Ok, now add that you're under the gun to finish your board, and
we usually have engineers online 24 hours a day? (I've been known to
send out patches at 2am local time)

We have some customers who get an engineer on site, too, and some that
get an engineer's home phone number with permission to wake them up in
the middle of the night.

*That* is what our customers are paying for.