Slashdot Mirror
Info World on VA Research
chrisd sent us a link
to a nice little InfoWorld Article
on our friends over at VA Research. Mentions the specs of
their latest speed demons and talks about them getting some
capital.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Now only if I had 50k to spend on a Linux server, now that would be the day :) Guess this is just another one of those dream servers
Just ordered a system from VA at the beginning of January and had absolutely no problems. Out of the box (no tweaking or anything), its been up and running just great.
I compare that to my experience when I bought my previous system from Dell. Over a month late with no update or clue when it would be delivered. Would take about 15-20 minutes on hold to talk with a person. Besides the fact I had to install Linux myself (not that it is hard, I'm just lazy)
Just one person's experience.
Dan Williams
williamsdr@acm.org
Really? I didn't have any trouble getting mine. Granted I will agree they are expanding so quickly I think they need to make sure they have a staff capable of handling those orders (took 2 weeks for mine but they had said that to begin with and it came promptly, they even bumped up the shipped to 2nd day air at no cost to me to get it here on time). VA isn't for the die hard Linux geek who is going to be building their own computer (that is what I will do next time) but it's great for beginers and those who aren't computer geeks. They even provide custom compiled kernels so someone who wants to keep up but doesn't know enough to compile their own. You want world domination? It'll take companies like VA Research and other vendors (especialy large vendors) to sell computers with Linux preinstalled and to them support them.
Check out Penguin Computing. It is a startup owned by one of the former VP's of VA Research. He must have seen a lot of places where VAR could improve because Penguin is a top notch reseller. Their systems are designed for Linux and Linux only (not hybrid NT/Linux machines like VAR pushes).
How did I find them? Spent weeks trying to get a machine out of VAR. Lots of broken promises. Cancelled my order and it was filled within a few days (custom build) by Penguin.
No, I don't work for them or have any other financial interests. Just a happy customer.
Please stop this Rob
I too had problems with VA. It took them, around five weeks to get my workstation to me. When I got, it was missing the keyboard! Also, they forgot to send the little info sheet with such things as the password for root! They never have sent me the Linux book that was supposed to come with the system (It was on back-order, but maybe a substistution is in order). The system was supposed to be dual-boot Linux/NT, but the NT partition was too small so it was completely unusable (at 100% capacity and all the software wasn't installed!).
For the most part, the Linux side of things was set up well. Still, overall, I feel gipped. It would've been cheaper and quicker to have a local merchant build me a machine, and then just install Linux myself.
Half a terrabyte will set you back 80+K all by itself...
chrisd? is that chris dibona? why don't you advertise that you work for va research in their marketing department? can you in good faith post slander about your competition? --flygirl
I live on the moon. I am a crackwhore and I get free advertising (and cheese too), aren't I cool? :-)
Point is, these people should all behave... and know that if it's dumb criticism from an anonymous coward, it's prolly fake..
Note: slashdot isn't very lynx friendly, IMHO.
Brian
Sam was never a VP of VA Research, so lets just put that to rest, as to the rest....Hi Sam, it's good to see you out and about, transparent much?
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
It's amusing to see Sam stoop to these sorts of astroturf (like grass-roots, but without real roots) tactics.
Check out the real Penguin Computing here.
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I noticed
It's getting about time to leave everywhere
He wasn't slandering anyone. He just stated the fact that Sam Ockman was never a VP of VA. If anything, stating his position as an employee of VA would strengthen the validity of this assertion.
Have a cookie.
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I noticed
It's getting about time to leave everywhere
Yes, as a matter of fact he did. He told me this on many occasions. Supposedly there are still Beastie Boys lyrics hidden in the comments for some of the pages.
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I noticed
It's getting about time to leave everywhere
For example, in December VA began shipping the VArServer 4100 system, a Red Hat Linux server that features four 450-MHz Intel Pentium II Xeon processors with 1GB of RAM on each, upgradable to 2GB. Pricing starts at $49,995.
1GB of RAM _ON_ each? What? I do believe they meant to say 1M full speed Cache Ram on each. If they stuck 1G on a CPU, they would be like world record holders or something....
You may want to Check thier Pricing/Configuration before you say it's out of line. I see a heck of a lot of hardware there for under 1/2 of the $50,000 you mention.
That seems REALLY expensive...even for a quad Zeon system...it better have 1/2 a terrabyte of storage at that price...
I bought a personal system, nnd my company bought a fancy dancy server; We are both as happy as clams at high tide.
If all you want to do is gripe, why not say so? If you really want to make things right, don't just whine. Tell chrisd how to make things better. It sounds pretty petty otherwise.
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Infuriate left and right
This is a sorry attitude. You don't care enough to tell VAR how to get better, yet you care enought to whine. Isn't part of the free source attitude supposed to be helping others in the same boat? VAR has helped slashdot at expos, they have helped others, and they probably will keep on doing so. Yet you can't be bothered to do anything but whine vaguely.
So what's your problem? Are you just a parasite, hoping to get a better deal from Gullible People using Linux? Nothing to contribute back, even such a simple matter as constructive criticism?
I don't work for VAResearch, I don't have any relation other than a twice satisfied customer.
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Infuriate left and right
I went through hell and high water to get a system out of them. I generally regret going through over a month of phone calls and wasted time simply to get a system.
They had better hope high-volume vendors don't take a keen hankering to linux - they simply won't last with their current level of general ineptness.
I already have my system. The last thing I want to do now is waste even more of my time getting VA operations up to speed. Needless to say, if you can't turn around a linux system in five business days, you're simply not going to be in business long.
I work for Penguin in their customer service and sales department. If you have any problems with one of our machines, please e-mail me and I will work with you to find a solution.
Thanks,
Alli Huynh
sales@penguincomputing.com