[ale] OT vision computers etal

[Geoffrey]

Nathan wrote:
> I don't believe (searching back through my earlier messages) that I've 
> used the term 'wonderful support' when referring to Dell's technical 
> support.  The point that I have been trying to make though is that 
> organizations looking to pay a one time fee for hardware + extended 
> support (i.e. 3 years), it's difficult to find that in a small Mom and 
> Pop shop.

So you recommend they pay money for something that is non-existent? 
Certainly you could have a discussion with the 'client' as to the actual 
options are?

> To hopefully illustrate my point, in the situation that Paul 
> mentioned.  If User 1 had bought the part from Local Computer Store A, 
> and had had it for 366 days (just outside of a year).  User 1 is a 
> novice user and wants to use the computer as a tool to help him do his 
> job, he doesn't care to know what a motherboard or IDE cable is, or the 
> differences between IDE, SATA, SCSI, etc.  He just wants to use the 
> computer.  User 1 finds, all of a sudden, that the burner doesn't work.  
> User 1 calls the Computer Store A and they likely say 'we're sorry, but 
> it sounds like you have a bad drive, you'll need to buy another one 
> since it's out of warranty'.  User 1 takes their word for it, goes to 
> buy the replacement drive, and then hires Tech Guy 1 to install it.  At 
> this point, User 1 is out 1) the time it took to troubleshoot, go get 
> the drive, get back, and wait for Tech Guy 1 to come and replace it 
> (likely the next day day, if you figure that User 1 noticed the error at 
> 9:00am, talked to the store at 10:00am, went to the store and arrived by 
> 11:00am, got back to his office by 12:00pm, called computer guy to do 
> the replacement at this time) and 2) the expense of the replacement 
> drive and the price for Tech Guy 1's time.  In the Dell scenario, 
> downtime is the same, but the cost of the replacement drive and Tech Guy 
> 1's time was covered in the original cost of the machine.

You can get similar support from local shops that is going to be better 
then the Dell solution.  Monarch provides such services.
> 
> Now, to relate this to the original post, computer equipment for a 
> Church.  If the Church doesn't have someone on staff / local that has 
> the 'know how'  to provide tech support, they could easily be User 1 in 
> the example above.  If they're looking to control costs (as most 
> non-profits are, understandably), the Dell option is a better option.

Bull crap. ;)  You can get better service, so you have other options. 
If you have someone who stays on top of the software issues, then the 
problem could have been solved at lot easier by simply telling them to 
update the software.

> Downtime is the same, cost is lower.  If they want to pay more, they can 
> get more.  Step one would be to buy the 'Gold', 'Premium', 'Elevated', 
> or whatever 'superior' support package and have it's cost applied as an 
> additional up front cost, easy to budget.  The next step is to hire 
> someone to 1) build the computers and 2) provide long term technical 
> support.  This is by far the best option for quality of equipment and 
> quality of support, but it is considerably more expensive than either of 
> the other options if things break.  How long would it take for your time 
> (Paul, James, me, etc.) to exceed the cost of that 'elevated' warranty 
> on a tier one box?

Personally, Dell's not even on my list of vendors I'd consider.  They 
mass market low cost proprietary hardware.  I've seen nothing but 
complaints on the Postgresql lists regarding their high end servers. 
I'll look elsewhere.  I'd recommend Vision before I'd recommend Dell, 
and I've never used Vision.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey

War never solved anything, well, except slavery, fascism and communism