Paid OSS? Pay whom?

[htnakirs]

Case Study:
X has 20 PCs spread over 2 internet cafes.
X wants to go the OSS way.
Besides the PC itself, there is the printer, scanner, and webcam that needs drivers.
Then there is the networking, network sharing and proxy that needs to be configured.
Wine to run a few basic Win apps, most importantly IMs - MSN and Yahoo, but also the cybercafe software.

X does not have the expertise to compile drivers (if they have been released in the first place). So the questions :
1. Suppose X buys support, to what extent is the developer - Red Hat or Novell - responsible for making ALL the apps work in that distro?
2. Visiting the RH and Novell site, X finds that RH charges about 50 Euro and Novell about 70$ for the paid version which is valid for ONE year only. Considering than WinXP OEM is available for a little more (Rs. 4000), and is not time limited, would you recommend X go the OSS way? (Ofcourse, the entire motivation to go with Free OSS is the 80000 that can be saved)
3. There are many RHCEs, will hiring one of them (or some of the veteran users in this forum) to make everything sync be a good idea (considering that X sticks with Free OSS)? Are RHCEs taught to recompile kernels, or write device drivers? Any indicators on what are the charges developers charge to solve custom problems?
4. Since Wine is not a product of any of the distro mfrs, can they help if a particular Win app does not work well?

Thanks for your time.

[victor_rambo]

Hmmm.......looks like you realized the ground condition now.

[FilledVoid]

Besides the PC itself, there is the printer, scanner, and webcam that needs drivers.
Then there is the networking, network sharing and proxy that needs to be configured.
Wine to run a few basic Win apps, most importantly IMs - MSN and Yahoo, but also the cybercafe software.

X needs to check the HCL (Hardware compatibility list) to see if the above stuff work. As far as messengers are concerned there isnt an exact Single Sign on and use Messenger. I believe that Yahoo Messenger might work but others might not. In an Internet cae where I helped a friend install Ubuntu he has 6 (currently) systems now running on Ubuntu. As far as the Cybercafe software is concerned I wouldn;t know since I dont know what software you are using.

X does not have the expertise to compile drivers (if they have been released in the first place). So the questions :
1. Suppose X buys support, to what extent is the developer - Red Hat or Novell - responsible for making ALL the apps work in that distro?

If you go the paid distro way you are losing the price advantage, Personally I would rather install a free distro then waste money like that. but then again I think paid distros probably have facilities to help you out more with tech support and driver issues. If you have them in the first place.

2. Visiting the RH and Novell site, X finds that RH charges about 50 Euro and Novell about 70$ for the paid version which is valid for ONE year only. Considering than WinXP OEM is available for a little more (Rs. 4000), and is not time limited, would you recommend X go the OSS way? (Ofcourse, the entire motivation to go with Free OSS is the 80000 that can be saved)

Going Legit then definitely not.

3. There are many RHCEs, will hiring one of them (or some of the veteran users in this forum) to make everything sync be a good idea (considering that X sticks with Free OSS)? Are RHCEs taught to recompile kernels, or write device drivers? Any indicators on what are the charges developers charge to solve custom problems?

I doubt a RHCE would maintain an Internet cafe as his full time job. As for consultants. WHy not be an active part of the community and see what they can dof or you. I mean probably run a prototype system and see how beneficial it is for you. IN this case again you do not spend money. theres a thread on ILUG Mumbai I think that talks about running an Internet Cafe on Linux. You may want to ask Mehulved.

4. Since Wine is not a product of any of the distro mfrs, can they help if a particular Win app does not work well?

Wine is a product which is given as is. You are free to use it. But definitely don;t expect immediate help f you run into a problem. You could try checking the forums for a fix or solution but it pretty much ends there.

To add : As I said I have helped a person a bit with an Internet cafe with Ubuntu machines. You would be lucky to get on one of those systems. I have found that most of the known folks or in other words people who spend alot of their time on the net actually prefer the Ubuntu machines over the XP ones. Why . I don't know. Maybe its a new thing and they prefer a change. Maybe its some perceived benefit. Further please do not forget you are considering the OSS way which only requires OSS software. You could probably use Windows XP with Open Office, Firefox and other alternatives as well. games which are Open Source software as well as an arcade. Theres tonnes of other OSS stuff you could use. WHy does everything have to be either Linux or Windows. Why not both? As far as maintenance costs.

Hmmm.......looks like you realized the ground condition now.

There is no "ground condition" with anything. Everything has it quirks , 5 years ago people wouldn't even consider installing Linux. Now people are even installing it and using as its daily OS and even at Internet cafes and schools . Well at least I do here.