Not a Rant, but a Response (Was: Re: [cobalt-users] Re: Cobalt Wish List If you must respond tothis do it off the board!)

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

CobaltList wrote:

> > As far as documentation on the GUI, I found that when I was first getting
> > myself familiar with the Cobalt interface, the booklet provided what was
> > necessary to get started.
> >
> Yep it's a cute little book.  about the size of a cessna 150 book.  Would
> you like to go flying with only that?

Very good point.  No, I don't go flying with "only" the Cessna book. 
But when I do go flying, the only book I bring along from the Cessna
people is the little Cessna book.  The rest of the books I bought from
other sources, both before and after I spent a lot of hours in school.

<smile>.

> Seriosly though it does cover what
> the appliance does.  it does not lend any help to the experienced linux pro
> that needs to do something on the linux side (Only to find out later the GUI
> wiped it all away).

I've looked at Cobalt products since they came out, and in fact I've had
a lot of what I'll nicely call "heated discussions" at their show-booths
over the past few years.  It wasn't until the product fit my needs that
I started using it.  Before that they didn't have my business.

I did my homework.  This list would be a lot easier to respond to if
everyone else did their homework.

Now, hidden deep in this reply to a reply to a reply, I'm going to write
something you may have trouble believeing...

Only a very small percentage of Cobalt's customers use this list.  Only
a very small percentage of Cobalt's customers complain.

Most are quite happy.

How do I know that?  Because I know the kind of business Cobalt does, I
know the kind of repeat business Cobalt does, I know the kind of users
they target, I know the kind of customers to whom they sell, and I know
how many people are vocal on this list.  In short, I've done my
homework.

There are an awful lot of things I'd like to do on a RaQ that I can't do
because as you put it "the GUI" will just wipe "it all away".  So I
don't do them on RaQs.  It's not worth it to me to abandon all the
quick-and-easy setups the RaQ will do for me to get a bit more
functionality out of it.

One of the reasons I offer DNS hosting to RaQ users at good rates is
because I know the RaQ2 has real problems with DNS hosting.  So do the
Cobalt people; the RaQ3 does it a lot better; in fact the RaQ3 can do
DNS hosting extremely well, if you've done your homework before you try.

I've even investigated writing the "RaQs for Dummies" book;
unfortunately, since it won't sell at least 5,000 copies, no one's
interested in publishing it <frown>.

No, I didn't learn to fly the Skylane from the little book.  And I don't
expect anyone to learn to fly the RaQ from the little book, either. 
Both take a lot of training.

> If I have a problem with the mailing list software, I
> > don't look to Cobalt, I go to the majordomo support resources.
> >
> And well you should but as you know you can ask a question that has nothing
> to do with the appliance aspect on this list.

Yes, but you'll get better support from the experts.

> So how much do you think I should of paid for the box
> builder to do something he should of done on day 1?

Sounds to me like even then you were looking for an appliance.

Flying (computers or airplanes, makes no difference) isn't inherently
dangerous; it's just incredibly unforgiving of mistakes.

> Now I feel safe with
> linux and it was one of the main reasons I got a cobalt product.  It looks
> good, Stacks in a rack Great, has a simmple construction, small power
> supply, Expandable and I love it.  I just have to except that if I want to
> learn what the GUI is doing to files inside I will have to go over all the
> code... and I don't have time to do that.

The gui is what makes the RaQ an appliance.  The cobalt-developers list
is for people who use their RaQs to do things it isn't made to do.

I'm somewhere in the middle; half user, half developer.

> I am and I have been online longer then I can remember.... somewhere around
> 300 and 1200 baud modems or around 1988...

Not do say that isn't impressive, but if this is really a pissing
contest, then let's point out that I've been programming computers since
1968, and I've run BBSes since I had to create a jig of solenoids to
left the handset on an old Bell-500 phone because auto-answer hadn't
been invented for asynchronous 300-baud modems yet.  The same guy who
wrote the code for Compuserve wrote it for my TRS-80 Model I with
expansion interface.  How many IBM boards did you wire in your
lifetime?  I can't even count how many <smile>.

> I Checked them out from top to bottom before I made the purchace.  I felt
> the box was sound, I Like the Mips, and alot of other things... I was very
> dissapointed to find poor support afterward.

Then you didn't check out support; you only made assumptions.

> True but it is a very easy box that even the secratary should be able to
> use.  Right down to installing software...  Maybe this will help you... They
> are loosing mony by not charging for things like PGP, PHP, MySql etc by not
> making packages and charging for them like they did with SSL and ASP.  Not
> only is that bad support but bad Biz.  Bottom Line they just don't have the
> support team to do that.  They just sell them and leave you almost hung.

As I've said before, we complainers are definitely in the minority. 
Companies would NOT buy 50 RaQ3s if they were losing money on RaQ2s.  As
I've said before, we've run out of room in colocation until almost the
first of 2001, and we don't have that many RaQ3s left to rent, either. 
And we're not the lowest priced guys in town; we make no bones about it;
we charge at least $100 more than everyone else.  But we offer support. 
You pays your money and your takes your choice.

> This letter took to much of my time up....

Then maybe you won't write another.

Somehow, I think you like writing these posts.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205