[asterisk-biz] I need your skiils, but I can't hire you

[Lee Howard]

Michael S. White wrote:

>Need great phone support for your customer? Just bundle Asterisk Business
>Edition in to your solution.
>
>Two things happen when you do this.
>
>(1) You help support Asterisk and Digium 
>
>(2) You guarantee great support for your client.
>

The second item there may be well and true; I can't say for myself as 
I've never chosen to turn to Digium for support.

However, I contend that, in the case of the first item, you should 
reconsider the wording there.  If you bundle ABE into your solution you 
certainly help support Digium.  And for many people in this community 
that, in and of itself, is "a good thing to do" (tm).  But as far as 
bundling ABE into your solution helping the Asterisk community itself 
(which I assume is what's meant by saying "help support Asterisk"), I'd 
say that this is also true, to an extent, but not nearly as much as it 
helps support Digium.

Asterisk is bigger than Digium.  If you want to support the Asterisk 
community it can be done perhaps just as effectively in countless ways 
besides or in addition to bundling ABE.  Yes, purchasing a Sangoma card 
helps the Asterisk community.  Contributing code helps.  Participating 
in these mailing lists helps.  Hiring an Asterisk consultant, even 
outside of Digium, helps.  Merely using Asterisk helps.  Reporting bugs 
helps.  In fact, I would even contend that the activity going on in 
competing or collaborative forks helps.  The list goes on and on.  Now, 
some of these "other" methods may not help Digium at all, but you can 
still help Asterisk without helping Digium.

So, I'm okay with the idea that getting ABE helps Digium and even the 
Asterisk community to a lesser extent.  But what I disagree with is the 
concept that the only way to help the community is through filling 
Digium's pockets.

Lee.