In my first post today, Why not OpenOffice, I asked the question; "Why would a company riff staff rather than look at open source solutions that could potentially save a few jobs?" Just over an hour after the post I received a comment from someone who very succinctly pointed out what they felt were the reasons managers would riff staff before considering a move to open source. I replied back to this comment in a very long-winded fashion and said I would tackle the subject of support in a different post. Well, here is that post.

In all of my years of using open source I have never said it was completely free. As in any application, be it desktop or server, there will always be some form of associated cost. In this post I want to address one of the most often asked questions that I receive when I go places and talk about open source, and that is support. In my opinion, there are four different support models, each with a different approach and their own unique costs. So, without further ado, here are my support models:

Have guru with time to spare (yeah right!)

If you are fortunate enough to be in this category, you are really in a good spot. Having a guru on staff that can deal with most of your support issues is a dream come true. This person  already knows most of the answers, and if he/she doesn't their intuition will have problems sniffed out and solved in no time at all, or at least appears that way. These "gurus" know where to find answers and how to solve problems. A rare breed for sure. Costs in this model are minimal and mostly related to hardware costs.

No guru, but someone with the nose of a bloodhound and time to spare (yeah right!)

This support model is, for the most part, wholly dependent on the community that thrives on the particular application being used. This person, or persons, know how to search the community forums and phrase questions in just the right way so that they seem to always have solutions to the problems. Once again, the cost of this support model is minimal and is mostly related to hardware.

Guru/bloodhound with no time to spare

Many of us may fall into this category. People on staff that have the knowledge and expertise, or the good sense to find solutions, but no time whatsoever to actually do the work. In this model, a third party, like a specific vendor, will come in and do the install of the applications and will work with your guru/bloodhound to make sure that they know how to maintain/upgrade the system when they, teh vendor leaves. This is a great model for folks that aren't really afraid of open source but just don't have the time. Costs here are more than the first two models, but nothing like the cost of keeping a full blown support contract in place, which is the fourth model.

Full meal deal

This model is most like a traditional support model that IT shops use all over the world. Because of its more traditional nature, this model is the most expensive of the four. In this model, you hire someone to do the install and then pay an annual fee for various levels of phone and onsite support. If you look hard enough there are companies springing up all over the world that will take care of you in this manner. A few that come to mind are Redhat, Novell and one I just had the pleasure of working with called Revolution Linux. So, if you are uncomfortable not giving your money away on an annual basis, then these folks and others are more than willing to provide you with the traditional support model.

So there you have it, my four models of open source support, from lease expensive to most expensive. In my fifteen years or so of using open source, I have always been able to accomplish what needed to be done with either of the first two models. On occasion I brought somebody in for a particularly tricky project, but for the most part we did most things in house.

I welcome your comments or quesitons as they relate to open source support.