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NOSI/NTEN Webinar

• The Key Is the Community How to Get Support for
  Open Source Software
• Michelle Murrain, Coordinator
• Nonprofit Open Source Initiative

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What we'll cover

• Models of support for software
• Models in FOSS vs. Proprietary
• Paid support for FOSS
• The Key is Community
• Types of community support
• Strengths and weaknesses of community support
• Examples of FOSS community support
• How to find community support
• What you need to know now

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Software support models

• If you look at every type of software or online
  service, there are varied types of support,
  although not all are available for all software.
• This can depend on the type of software, the cost
  of the software, and the company or developers
• It is almost always possible to find some support
  for software but the timeliness and
  appropriateness of that support may differ

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In-person support

• This type of support is most common when an
  organization contracts with a hardware/network
  support consultant or company, for support of
  their servers and desktops. It generally includes
  both hardware and software support. Some
  large-scale software installations also offer
  in-person support. This is the most expensive
  kind of support available.

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Phone support

• This is being able to call someone on the phone,
  speak to an actual human being, and get help for
  whatever the problem might be.
• This might be support directly from a software
  vendor, or it might be support from a consultant
  or company

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Live Chat support

• This can be an individual chat with a support
  person via a website or instant messenger

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Email or ticket system

• Many companies, developers and consutants have
  ticket systems. An email to them, or a form on a
  website, will enter a ticket system, which
  tracks support requests
• Some work just by email, without a ticket system

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IRC

• IRC Internet Relay Chat
• IRC is community chat many people are in a
  channel, and can provide answers to questions
• This can be run by developers/companies, or
  independent

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Email list

• This can be official, or unofficial. It can be
  just a community of users, or it can include
  support from the developers/company

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Web Forum

• This can also be official, or unofficial.

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FOSS vs. Proprietary

• At this time, all of these methods of support are
  available for both types of software.
• Historically, support for FOSS was based in the
  community of users and developers of FOSS
  projects.
• Because of this, it is often easiest and most
  direct to get support from the community for FOSS
• However, it is possible to pay for support for
  FOSS

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Paying for FOSS support

• Linux vendors, such as RedHat, Novell (SUSE) and
  Canonical (Ubuntu) have plans where you can get
  phone support.
• IBM, Sun and others provide paid support for
  their FOSS products
• More and more companies are getting into the
  business of providing support for FOSS in the
  private sector
• Increasing avenues for support in the nonprofit
  sector, including NTAPs

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How to find paid support

• Buy a version of Linux from a commercial vendor
  which comes with support
• Buy a version of a FOSS application (database,
  CMS, CRM, etc.) from a commercial vendor that
  comes with support
• Find a vendor that supports FOSS (see
  http//snurl.com/1y3h6)?

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However ...

• Although it is possible to pay for support for
  FOSS, getting support from the community is not
  only a viable, cost-effective source of support,
  but it has other positive side-effects

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The Key is Community

• History
• Types of community support
• Strengths of community support
• Weaknesses of community support
• Becoming a part of a community

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History

• circa 1995 Just about all open source software
  was used by enthusiasts and academics. If you
  needed help, you had to find others that had used
  the software support communities were born.
• circa 2000 Use of FOSS broadens beyond
  enthusiasts and academe. A few companies were
  beginning to offer support like RedHat for
  Linux, MySQL AB for MySQL, and others. Community
  support matures.
• circa 2008 Hundreds of companies provide support
  for FOSS. FOSS is used by large and small
  companies and organizations. Communities of
  support thrive.

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Types of community support

• Support by application or Linux distribution
• User groups (in person)?
• Email lists
• Web forums
• IRC channels
• Developers/company staff are often present

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Types of community support

• By interest area or other
• Educational users
• Nonprofit users (like NTEN-Discuss,
  NOSI-Discussion)?
• Other groups
• Linux User Groups (LUGS)?
• These cut across different software applications.
  More applied to a particular kind of use, but
  less specific.

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Strengths of Community Support

• Can get answers almost immediately
• As you get to know a community, you get to know
  individuals who can help in particular situations
• Communities of popular applications are large,
  and have users with a wide variety of technical
  savvy.
• There are usually multiple avenues of support
  (IRC/Email lists/Web forums)?
• It is almost always possible to contact a
  developer
• Support by issue area can be very friendly and
  useful

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Weaknesses of Community Support

• Unpredictable whether or not your problem can be
  solved
• Unpredictable how long it will take
• A very few communities are unfriendly to
  newbies, or reply to questions with RTFM
  (Read the ing Manual)?

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And remember ...

• When you do a Google search on a problem you are
  having with FOSS software, most of the time what
  you get is a result of someone else using
  community support

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How to find community support

• Use communities you are already in

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How to find community support

• Go to the website of the application you are using

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Examples of community support

• OpenOffice.org forums
• ProjectPier forums
• Ubuntu IRC
• Joomla Forums
• Mailman mailing lists
• Linuxchix.org
• Mailing lists
• IRC

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Becoming Part of a Community

• The key to community is contribution and
  collaboration a good general rule is the more
  you give to a community, the more you will
  recieve.
• User communities really need contributions by
  members of all levels this provides support for
  the widest range of users.
• You can influnce the direction of the software

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NPTECH examples

• NTAPs and Consulting firms getting involved in
  FOSS communities (Drupal, Plone, OpenACS,
  Joomla)?
• Provide organizational support for the community
• give back code and resources
• get back support that helps clients
• FOSS communities benefit
• providers benefit
• ulimately, clients benefit

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Rules to make it all work

• These are people who are, generally, doing this
  out of generosity and their own interest. Dont
  treat them like you are paying them.
• For IRC, dont ask to ask your question just
  ask it.
• When answering others questions, a great rule is
  be polite, be helpful.
• Give back as much as you can.

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So what you need to know now...

• You can find helpful support for most FOSS
  applications
• paid support is becoming quite common
• community support is very rich
• Check out the support during your evaluation
  process
• Read mailing list archives
• lurk in IRC channels
• Read forums
• Join a list/forum immediately its amazing how
  much you can learn by osmosis, even before you
  have a problem