Re: Advice?
"Can you get Cisco updates without paying for support?"
Ideally, security updates should be free to all users of their kit since they are fixing faults which were not discovered at build time and potentially should have been. Other updates which change or add to functionality are a different matter.
It's a problem the software industry has had almost since it's inception. Software released with inadequate testing so patches are required in some case even to get it working. But they also included patches not directly related to advertised functionality and have effectively built a rod for their own backs.
MS Windows is a prime example. Service packs are effectively a point (or more) upgrade from the base install. Maybe they ought to place a change freeze on an OS and just do security updates and fixes for free. Other updates could then be chargeable if you want the added functionality that you didn't get or expect when you bought the product. On the other hand, with a complex ecosystem like Windows OS, maybe it's cheaper for MS to force the updates on everyone and only "support" a fully patched and updated system.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
