* Ben Rosenberg;
charging them to install software and train said people on the software..that's your time and your knowledge they were paying for. I'm sure SUSE's Professional services would love to have done it. But remember quite clearly when I worked for SUSE in Oakland that the Prof. Services Manager called a $2000 sendmail server install an config a "waste of time" and "small potatos". So in this instance what really got paid for was you. So they have nothing to say about it.
Just my 0.02 € ( yeah no more Turkish Lira). My understanding is SUSE wants people to either become a reseller or business partner so they will have another source of income from selected resellers and partners in the mean time having some sort of control on the quality of their partners as well [1] if they are interested in reselling SUSE software packages. On the other hand however it is the customer who drives the marketplace. Taking the example Ben gives, the customer will go to either a partner who is intersted in making the business or someone who has the knowledge, skills to do the job though not necessarily a reseller nor a partner of SUSE. Whether he buys the SUSE software or the consultant buys is not in the SUSE's ball park now. Having to control the business environment to much does have a boomerang effect. Just remember to protect our fingers or they are chopped away [1] http://www.suse.de/en/partner/become_partner/index.html Mfg. from Stuttgart -- Togan Muftuoglu Unofficial SuSE FAQ Maintainer http://susefaq.sf.net