Free software is only supported if someone actually wants to support it.
Linux is just lucky there are enough people interested in it to fix most
of the problems.
If I were a Sun customer, with a support agreement/contract, I could say
to them "there's this rsh-ioctl problem and I need a fix" and if they don't
then they've got have a good reason why not. They may even supply me with
a "test-patch" (which don't get released to the general public). Basically
they answer to customer demand and posting things to bugtraq is not the same
as a customer with a problem logging a support call.
If I have a prlbem with Linux, I have no _guarantee_ that anyone will look at
it, never mind actually solve it. If it's a priority 1 problem for me and
I receive no support from the Linux camp, how good does it sound to explain
to management "I posted the problem a week ago, but no response." ? It's
the guarantee of some sort of support service which management need. ie.
they can yell at someone else and get a head kicked if nothing happens.
Who's going to do that for Linux ?