Re: Debian does not have customers
"Jeremy T. Bouse" <jbouse@debian.org> writes:
> I'll start off by saying I haven't read the whole thread and only
> caught this because of the subject line change.
I direct you to Russ's message in this thread that explains exactly why
“customer” is a misleading term for the relationship being discussed, and:
> I'd have to ask how many of you actually have worked in large
> enterprise environments? I've been working in both public and private
> sector enterprise environments and the term "customer" is quite often
> used to describe those whom we serve. Whether they are internal or
> external customers and whether or not there is any payment involved.
> The term merely means the consumer of the service we provide.
and please read Russ's message for why that *is* a reasonable
implication of “customer”, and is exactly why that's *not* the
relationship the Debian project has with Debian recipients.
> Having a long winded debate over the use of a term takes away from
> the ability of actually accomplishing anything so it is better served
> to move on and address the issue rather than be pedantic about
> definitions.
If the distinction were inconsequential I would agree. It's not
inconsequential, though, so that's why this is so valuable: it draws
attention to the false and misleading idea that the Debian Project has a
“customer” relationship with anyone.
--
\ “I don't want to live peacefully with difficult realities, and |
`\ I see no virtue in savoring excuses for avoiding a search for |
_o__) real answers.” —Paul Z. Myers, 2009-09-12 |
Ben Finney
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