I've worked for a white-box builder/consulting company and now i'm a sysadmin. I've been on both sides of the build or buy question and i've finally decided to buy pre-built boxes...here's why:
Replacement parts availability.
That nifty Athlon board from MSI, ABIT, Epox, and the like won't be around 1 year from now. If you image machines, you will most likely have to create new images when you service/replace hardware. (Win2k doesn't like having its boot controllers moved around very much...you'll get the "inaccesable boot device error".)
The upfront cost savings may be attractive, but there isn't a free lunch...you'll have to spend more time maintaining different platforms.
Sorry for the second post but I found this gem in the article:
''Obviously, something is being done with those blank CDs,'' says Mike Dreese, owner of the Boston-based Newbury Comics record chain and prophetic coauthor two years ago of a widely distributed essay, ''Disc burning equals death.''
Yes you moron, I actually do put DATA on some of my blank CDs....not just music.
The term paper analogy is flawed. I don't know of anyone that downloads music, burns it to CD and then claims they wrote and performed the music.
A better analogy would be the open source movement. People create the intellectual property and then release it to the public under certain license agreements. I can download the GNU compiler collection for free, but I don't claim it as mine.
The issue here is money, nothing more. The RIAA wants to be paid for every distributed copy of music; fair use be damned. The RIAA uses the intellectual property argument when it suits them. They never bring up the thousands of programmers that give away their work for free, without restriction, every day.
I hear that! When I got out of college I used to implement the newest offerings from vendors....now i'm more inclined to put less glitzy, reliable as a rock type systems in place. They screw up less and I get more sleep at night.
I agree with your last point, but eventually college grads end up making IT decisions...people retire and then underlings get promoted. I have yet to run into any sysadmins that plan on staying at their current jobs forever.
How many IT folk disagree with the decisions of upper management? As people move up the corporate ladder their ideas and preferences move with them.
As far as Apple goes; even schools aren't using them. I work for a school and we've got one mac in the building....and it's going away soon.
I'm not anti-SUN. I used lots of SUNs at college, and they were great...but damn expensive.
I have one sitting brand new in the box....why? Because the machine I want to run it on runs windows XP. Their web site has been promising drivers and a "multimedia center" for almost a year now.
And my linux machine....forget it. They can't even get the apps to run in windows, do you think ATI will concentrate on linux at all?
ATI is a joke. They need to fire their software guys and hire some serious developers.
Why oh why do I need to register with anyone to EVALUATE software? When I am evaluating software, I am usually evaluating between 5 and 10 software packages at a time. I end up only purchasing ONE. Why do the other 9 companies need to have my info? If I didn't want their product, why would I want them contacting me in the future?
By the way, hours in internet time is like decades in real time. Your e-mail responses should go out within 2 minutes.
I've had very good success with these drives, but I hear that seagate does not recommend them for use in raid configuration. As a stand alone drive, though, i'd have to say they are quite good.
I've been using 3com's NBX VOIP system for a while now at work and i've even set up a telephone extension at home via my cable modem. It works very well. All those that are afraid of VOIP shouldn't be. Most voice conversations only need 64k of bandwidth....most broadband connections can easily handle this. I'd love to get this service at my house!
Listen up you RIAA greedy bastards, my 401k and stocks lost almost 20% this year and it had nothing to do with the internet or file swapping. I buy my music legally; but i'm going to buy less this year because I lost money in the RECESSION!
Music industry CEOs listen up: the internet scapegoat will save your jobs temporarily, but stockholders will eventually figure out that the losses have nothing to do with the internet, and have everything to do with your terrible products and even worse business model.
There is a fiber glut...that's for sure. Most of it is still unlit since the gear to light up the fiber costs mega-bucks.
So what about the fiber that is lit? It's in all the wrong places! What good is a gigabit ring if it doesn't pass by your house? The bandwidth glut merely refers to all the unlit fiber stringing between major cities. Until someone figures out an economical way to get the data down the "last mile", there will be a bandwidth shortage where it is needed.
Congress and the FCC is now not requiring that local telcos keep their networks open to competitors. This means that your local telco/DSL provider now has no one to compete with...so you get crap DSL...low bandwidth...service restrictions..etc.
Cable companies know this and are starting to turn down the bandwidth valves. As little as two months ago I laughed at the Verizon sales guy that was pitching $50.00/mo 640k DSL...and no servers allowed. I told him that I have a 3-6Mbps cable modem connection for $29.00/mo. Sure, Cablevision doesn't let me operate a server either (they block inbound port 80), but I've got 3 to 4 times the bandwidth of my T1 at work!
This will not last forever. Cable companies will get greedy...who wants to pay for a fraction T3 when you can degrade the services to the point where a couple of cheap T1s will service an entire cable area. With only crap DSL to compete with, they will start degrading their service to cut costs. They know that after taking a hit from the broadband crackpipe, you won't go back to dial-up.
Write to your congressman! Let them know that this is intollerable! If you give monopolies to the cable and telephone companies they'll screw the consumer every time!
Some cars roll out of the factor with overly retarded ignition. Sometimes simply advancing the ignition closer to TDC gives better performance. Lots of aftermarket chips do this. I don't understand why car manufacturers allow their vehicles to ship with these timings. Do you?
I love these cars...especially the "heating system".....nothing more than air blowing over the air cooled engine and then blowing into a hole under the back seat....as well as any exhaust gasses that might be back there as well..but still a fun car nonetheless....
You make excellent points. The ablity to customize your environment is the reason why I did all my project development on Linux in college.
I guess what I really meant to say is that companies don't want to engineer products, they want vendors to engineer products that solve a particular business problem or enhance a business process. Commercial software companies do this to some extent. Some do it so often that the products have 10 million features, most of which are never or seldom used.
I would like commercial Linux vendors to start thinking about the needs of the business community and then build products and services on top of Linux. These "solutions" would allow commercial software vendors to have a unique offering that businesses would pay a premium for.
The hardest part of executing this strategy is not writing good code, but writing code that is useful to the business community. The reason we have a downturn in IT spending is that the business community (read suits and bean counters) do not percieve there is any added value in purchasing new systems when ones from 3 years ago still do what the business requires.
"I went into hypnosis therapy and I found out my parents used to hit me."
"Hey, MY parents used to beat the living shit out of me, looking back on it i'm glad they did and i'm looking forward to beating the shit out of my kids aren't you?"
Don't misunderstand, I love america, but it seems that american society and law is protecting the weak and the stupid. Parents of failing students blame the schools and teachers; criminals blame the "other man's laws"; depresed people say "my parents used to hit me....." columbine victims blame movies and video games. Cigarette smokers blame the tobacco companies for their addiction (like they forced you to light up).
What ever happened to people taking responsibility for themselves? If you screw up; blame yourself and then do something about the problem.
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I've worked for a white-box builder/consulting company and now i'm a sysadmin. I've been on both sides of the build or buy question and i've finally decided to buy pre-built boxes...here's why:
Replacement parts availability.
That nifty Athlon board from MSI, ABIT, Epox, and the like won't be around 1 year from now. If you image machines, you will most likely have to create new images when you service/replace hardware. (Win2k doesn't like having its boot controllers moved around very much...you'll get the "inaccesable boot device error".)
The upfront cost savings may be attractive, but there isn't a free lunch...you'll have to spend more time maintaining different platforms.
-ted
Besides a larger memory address space, does this 64-bit architecture do anything significantly better than the 32-bit stuff out there now?
-ted
Sorry for the second post but I found this gem in the article:
''Obviously, something is being done with those blank CDs,'' says Mike Dreese, owner of the Boston-based Newbury Comics record chain and prophetic coauthor two years ago of a widely distributed essay, ''Disc burning equals death.''
Yes you moron, I actually do put DATA on some of my blank CDs....not just music.
-ted
The term paper analogy is flawed. I don't know of anyone that downloads music, burns it to CD and then claims they wrote and performed the music.
A better analogy would be the open source movement. People create the intellectual property and then release it to the public under certain license agreements. I can download the GNU compiler collection for free, but I don't claim it as mine.
The issue here is money, nothing more. The RIAA wants to be paid for every distributed copy of music; fair use be damned. The RIAA uses the intellectual property argument when it suits them. They never bring up the thousands of programmers that give away their work for free, without restriction, every day.
-ted
I hear that! When I got out of college I used to implement the newest offerings from vendors....now i'm more inclined to put less glitzy, reliable as a rock type systems in place. They screw up less and I get more sleep at night.
I guess i'm getting older.
-ted
Your wit got you a -1 score....great for golf, not so good on slashdot.
I can already hear the flushing sounds of your comments getting chucked when the story gets archived.
HAHA
-ted
I agree with your last point, but eventually college grads end up making IT decisions...people retire and then underlings get promoted. I have yet to run into any sysadmins that plan on staying at their current jobs forever.
How many IT folk disagree with the decisions of upper management? As people move up the corporate ladder their ideas and preferences move with them.
As far as Apple goes; even schools aren't using them. I work for a school and we've got one mac in the building....and it's going away soon.
I'm not anti-SUN. I used lots of SUNs at college, and they were great...but damn expensive.
-ted
CS students write programs in college.
CS students need a platform to develop on.
Sun hardware is expensive.
Intel hardware is cheap.
Linux runs on Intel.
Solaris runs...uh, ran...on Intel.
College kids develop on LinTel.
College kids get job at big company and buy LinTel.....not Sun.
-ted
CS students write programs in college.
CS students need a platform to develop on.
Sun hardware is expensive.
Intel hardware is cheap.
Linux runs on Intel.
Solaris runs...uh, ran...on Intel.
College kids develop on LinTel.
College kids get job at big company and buy LinTel.....not Sun.
-ted
-ted
I have one sitting brand new in the box....why? Because the machine I want to run it on runs windows XP. Their web site has been promising drivers and a "multimedia center" for almost a year now.
And my linux machine....forget it. They can't even get the apps to run in windows, do you think ATI will concentrate on linux at all?
ATI is a joke. They need to fire their software guys and hire some serious developers.
-ted
Why oh why do I need to register with anyone to EVALUATE software? When I am evaluating software, I am usually evaluating between 5 and 10 software packages at a time. I end up only purchasing ONE. Why do the other 9 companies need to have my info? If I didn't want their product, why would I want them contacting me in the future?
By the way, hours in internet time is like decades in real time. Your e-mail responses should go out within 2 minutes.
-ted
The school I work for has tons of black Dell Optiplex machines sitting near windows without any issues.
I've had very good success with these drives, but I hear that seagate does not recommend them for use in raid configuration. As a stand alone drive, though, i'd have to say they are quite good.
You forgot to mention the TAPI integration. Being able to dial from Outlook is damn cool.
-ted
I've been using 3com's NBX VOIP system for a while now at work and i've even set up a telephone extension at home via my cable modem. It works very well. All those that are afraid of VOIP shouldn't be. Most voice conversations only need 64k of bandwidth....most broadband connections can easily handle this. I'd love to get this service at my house!
-ted
Listen up you RIAA greedy bastards, my 401k and stocks lost almost 20% this year and it had nothing to do with the internet or file swapping. I buy my music legally; but i'm going to buy less this year because I lost money in the RECESSION!
Music industry CEOs listen up: the internet scapegoat will save your jobs temporarily, but stockholders will eventually figure out that the losses have nothing to do with the internet, and have everything to do with your terrible products and even worse business model.
-ted
There is a fiber glut...that's for sure. Most of it is still unlit since the gear to light up the fiber costs mega-bucks.
So what about the fiber that is lit? It's in all the wrong places! What good is a gigabit ring if it doesn't pass by your house? The bandwidth glut merely refers to all the unlit fiber stringing between major cities. Until someone figures out an economical way to get the data down the "last mile", there will be a bandwidth shortage where it is needed.
-ted
I have a choice of ONE cable company, and ONE DSL company. Where can I go when i'm not happy with Cablevision or Verizon?
-ted
Congress and the FCC is now not requiring that local telcos keep their networks open to competitors. This means that your local telco/DSL provider now has no one to compete with...so you get crap DSL...low bandwidth...service restrictions..etc.
Cable companies know this and are starting to turn down the bandwidth valves. As little as two months ago I laughed at the Verizon sales guy that was pitching $50.00/mo 640k DSL...and no servers allowed. I told him that I have a 3-6Mbps cable modem connection for $29.00/mo. Sure, Cablevision doesn't let me operate a server either (they block inbound port 80), but I've got 3 to 4 times the bandwidth of my T1 at work!
This will not last forever. Cable companies will get greedy...who wants to pay for a fraction T3 when you can degrade the services to the point where a couple of cheap T1s will service an entire cable area. With only crap DSL to compete with, they will start degrading their service to cut costs. They know that after taking a hit from the broadband crackpipe, you won't go back to dial-up.
Write to your congressman! Let them know that this is intollerable! If you give monopolies to the cable and telephone companies they'll screw the consumer every time!
-ted
Some cars roll out of the factor with overly retarded ignition. Sometimes simply advancing the ignition closer to TDC gives better performance. Lots of aftermarket chips do this. I don't understand why car manufacturers allow their vehicles to ship with these timings. Do you?
-ted
I love these cars...especially the "heating system".....nothing more than air blowing over the air cooled engine and then blowing into a hole under the back seat....as well as any exhaust gasses that might be back there as well..but still a fun car nonetheless....
-ted
You make excellent points. The ablity to customize your environment is the reason why I did all my project development on Linux in college.
I guess what I really meant to say is that companies don't want to engineer products, they want vendors to engineer products that solve a particular business problem or enhance a business process. Commercial software companies do this to some extent. Some do it so often that the products have 10 million features, most of which are never or seldom used.
I would like commercial Linux vendors to start thinking about the needs of the business community and then build products and services on top of Linux. These "solutions" would allow commercial software vendors to have a unique offering that businesses would pay a premium for.
The hardest part of executing this strategy is not writing good code, but writing code that is useful to the business community. The reason we have a downturn in IT spending is that the business community (read suits and bean counters) do not percieve there is any added value in purchasing new systems when ones from 3 years ago still do what the business requires.
-ted
"I went into hypnosis therapy and I found out my parents used to hit me."
"Hey, MY parents used to beat the living shit out of me, looking back on it i'm glad they did and i'm looking forward to beating the shit out of my kids aren't you?"
Don't misunderstand, I love america, but it seems that american society and law is protecting the weak and the stupid. Parents of failing students blame the schools and teachers; criminals blame the "other man's laws"; depresed people say "my parents used to hit me....." columbine victims blame movies and video games. Cigarette smokers blame the tobacco companies for their addiction (like they forced you to light up).
What ever happened to people taking responsibility for themselves? If you screw up; blame yourself and then do something about the problem.
Dennis Leary for president!