Lets look at the support center of any major business.

How many users call Dell technical support with their computer? Now.. that's not the *only* method Dell uses to make money, since Dell charged you for the computer too, but they do make a *substantial* amount of money just from their technical support division.

What about Adobe? Don't they have a support division as well? Don't they sell support?

Companies will always like to pay other companies to do what they could hire someone to do themselves. That's just the way it is.. and the reason why I hate working as an SA at so many companies. "Did you open a ticket?".. WTF? Why am I here then? Get a damned high-schooler to sit at your desk here and phone Microsoft every time a blip appears on the screen if that's what you want. Don't pay me silly amounts of money to be a messenger boy to Microsoft's support. Etc.

But.. companies do. That's how they work. And a good number of users do.. however, when money is involved - users are more picky about it. Many users will instead grab their Linux-using relative to come fix their computer .

Unless you're just such an *awesome* developer that the software you write works 100% of the time in *all* environments without tweaking.. in which I applaud you tremendously... there is money to be made in support.

The question is - is it enough money for you? Most businesses don't settle for enough to live on and keep the business running.. they want as much money as possible with the least amount of work.. so they over-charge, and then triple-charge for the same thing, just because they can. I personally think that's ridiculous. I don't mind people making money.. I do mind people taking advantage of other people just because they can.

That's why I'll support Red Hat over Microsoft. I hated when Red Hat dropped their official "free" operating system because I felt it wasn't in the spirit of what linux represents. Over time I've grown less zealotry.. they do work with CentOS, which provides a free alternative to their main enterprise system - and they also do a lot of work with Fedora - which is free.. so they made up for it in alternative ways.

Microsoft on the other hand wants you to pay, and then pay again, and then pay some more.. and oh wait - did you pay last minute? Cuz.. it's a new minute.. you need to pay again..