Ubuntu

What support can I expect, expectation management.

Asked by Mark Thompson

I am new to Ubuntu and Linux. Coming from a commercial world, DOS/windows and mainframe with over 28 years of experience developing, supporting and managing software products; when giving or receiving support you reach/live by your contracts and SLAs (Service Level Agreements).

Having decided to embark on moving my entire household and family to Linux, selecting Ubuntu as the vehicle. I have been stalled at the first hurdles of configuring printers and WFI, I find I have no contract or SLA to fall back on, but will continue next weekend (this will be the 8th weekend)

I am still committed to this project, but feel I need some hand holding to change my expectations, my understanding of the cultural change in thinking and my manner (the words "Why hasn't it been fixed and how are you going to compensate me", now no longer seem relevant).

This world is currently a mystery to me, but unlike many, I do not wish to give up on it and recognize that other operating system provider by default have developed "an expectation" that for example driver will be available for there system.

Therefore, as a beginning, this site is better than many commercial site I have to deal with, but what is good manners, when will I know that no one can help (Just not get a answer)?

Someone wishing to be converted,

Mark Thompson.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) said : 		#1

This support site is manned by volunteers. We answer the questions we can in the best way we can, as quick as we can. All in a "best effort" SLA, but no more.

If you would like a commercial contract with a support organisation there are of course options available including Canonical and partners. See http://ubuntu.com/support for more details there.

If you ask a question and nobody answers (this does happen) it could be that nobody here has experience of that application / product / particular configuration, and so it can be difficult to quickly answer the question. It could be that the person who happens to know about that is busy, and they

We had this recently where someone raised a second call to try to raise awareness of his first unanswered one. I took a look at the original and spent a bit of time and did figure out a potential solution, but it was time consuming and out of my sphere of expertise. Many people "dip" into the support requests when they have 5 mins spare, and so to commit to dealing with a request that may take 30 mins or more to resolve can be difficult.

So really I'd say be patient with us, provide as much technical detail about what your problem is, assign it to the right package, outline what you have already tried and exactly what the result was and we will do our best. I don't think we can offer much more than that.

Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) said : 		#2

Gah.. missed a bit "It could be that the person who happens to know about that is busy, and they are thus unable to process tickets for a while - real life can get in the way. As unpaid volunteers we don't always resolve every problem, but we try.

Revision history for this message
Mark Thompson (mark-r-thompson) said : 		#3

Alan,

"Expectations managed", misquoting Harry Potter.

Given this is handled by volunteers, the speed and quality of response is amazing.

Thanks you for this reply. It was unclear to me that this site was manned by volunteers, but from my background, gave the impression of a "free" service provided by Conanical Ltd to promote Ubuntu. For example RedHat give access to their full knowledge base for Fedora and Microsoft provide such online services along with email support and blog support from "Evangelist's".

Can I suggest that a page is added somewhere on this site, possible called "whats it all about" (and this page is very visible), Those of us coming from another provider and tradition have been trained to misunderstand. I know there is information on www.ubundu.com, but that is not this site.

All the best,

Mark.

Revision history for this message
Mark Thompson (mark-r-thompson) said : 		#4

PS. I am not giving up, your answer has only made me more determined to find out "Whats it all about". I am missing something and need to understand and my daughter's loves Linux, finding it easier to use than Windows. For me it appears it will save money, but the setup cost seems more painfully, but hopefully reliability into the future will more than pay off. You do not want to know my expected upgrade cost for another supplier is for the whole family.

Revision history for this message
Best Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) said : 		#5

https://help.launchpad.net/SupportTrackerDocumentation contains the documentation for this site, including a quick tour down the bottom of that page.

Money is just one aspect. There is some mileage in the "freedom" argument of using Free and Open Source software. Being in control of your own computer rather than having its operation dictated by a company in Palo Alto or Redmond is somewhat liberating.

It is my belief that if you were an expert on any system and switched one day to another you would experience challenges, whether that's Windows -> Linux, Windows -> Mac, Mac -> Windows or Mac -> Linux.

If you invest a lot of brain capacity in one platform, it can be disheartening to think you can just forget huge chunks of it, disregard some of it, and only need to remember some (the common bits - a cpu is a cpu whatever the platform).

The BEST thing though about going from Anything -> Linux is the community of support that you get. I firmly believe there isn't the same underlying attitude in either the Windows or Mac camps where people are willing to help complete strangers in anywhere near the volume that they do with Linux - and specifically Ubuntu. It's great to be a part of that.

I'll stop now before I get all emotional :)

Good luck!

Revision history for this message
Mark Thompson (mark-r-thompson) said : 		#6

User confirmed that the request is solved.