[Ocfs2-users] ocfs2 is still eating memory

[Lars Marowsky-Bree]

On 2007-03-08T19:08:18, Alexei_Roudnev <Alexei_Roudnev at exigengroup.com> wrote:

> But feedback to the Novell is really a huge problem, and it makes their
> excellent system to be less usable then it could be. They improves every
> year, but still don't have open beta testing, don't have open feedback
> channels for their customers (even those without the premium support). They
> inherited a great system from SuSe (and SuSe had not such problems), and we
> don't want to lost these system.

Dear Alexei,

I'd like to thank you for your support and of course your praise for our
system. I would further like to explain a bit about our processes:

First, for the Enterprise product line, we make our money primarily from
the support contracts. In return, we ensure that problems reported by
customers with support contracts get resolved as soon as possible from
an engineering point of view. We have a global support organization
(NTS) to handle the customer relations and support our R&D with
reproduction, data gathering et cetera, so that our engineering
organisation can focus on solving the technical problem.

I've been here and with SUSE since a little over 7 years now, and I can
tell you that our support has improved since. Are there problems from
time to time still? Absolutely, and we're working on fixing them.
(Processes and organisations have bugs, just like code does ...)

Now, SUSE was not good at one thing: that would be why we eventually got
bought. We must thus insist that the complex support cases are reported
through support contracts.

Does this mean we're not open for feedback? We _are_! We are, in fact,
looking at John's problem, in parallel to the support processes being
started up. And yes, it _does_ imply that the issues which get reported
from customers _with_ support contracts or similar situations get
priorized. I must beg your pardon, but how else should we do that?

Premium support _is_ premium. It ultimately means that in critical
situations, we priorize those calls over product development, and, if
there is no other option, put the developer on a plane to the customer
site. (Which of course we try to avoid because it rarely is the best way
to solve a problem.) 

We _cannot_ offer this to everyone, and this is no secret: You'll find
it pretty clear in our marketing material and price lists that there's
several options (maintenance only, normal and premium support etc)
available. Please, chose which fits your environment and needs.

Again, we're looking at John's problem, but not at "premium" priority.


Second, we do have an open beta program. The beta program for SLE11 for
example is code named "openSUSE 10.3", the development being done
totally in the open. This does have an open bugzilla even.

Third, we even have a beta program for SLES10 SP1. Please contact your
support coordinator and ask about it. (It's open for our premium
customers and certain pilots, I have to admit I'm not perfectly clear on
the details myself.) However, for SP1, this might be a bit late in the
cycle.


Regards,
    Lars

-- 
Teamlead Kernel, SuSE Labs, Research and Development
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg)
"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." -- Oscar Wilde