RE: [cobalt-users] The new $995 Sun UNIX(r)/RISC King of the road ! -Don't believe the F.U.D.!

["Rodolfo J. Paiz \(E-mail\)" <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandon,

> You can also use a normal and perfectly available Cisco console cable
> for the connection as well.

I honestly think your error (for I believe it is such) is that you don't
understand who the majority of Cobalt Users really are and what their
profile is.

I bought a Qube to save myself the grief of trying to run a Linux system
while I learned the 'unfettered' way of doing things. I also bought a
Sparc-5 that I use as a learning system only. I aim to climb up the
learning curve very quickly, and I've already fully setup my first
entirely-from-scratch RedHat server (although sendmail configuration
required lots of Lasman-help). I even built that server component by
component personally.

I'm not the typical Cobalt user, since I desperately want to use
straight Linux systems and use Webmin (or something) to give my
customers some self-administration. I bought Cobalt only as "training
wheels" (an apt phrase). And the thought of a Cisco console cable (which
I've never seen) being a "perfectly available" component is still absurd
to me. Screwdrivers are perfectly available; plastic cups are perfectly
available... Cisco console cables are not.

The average Cobalt user doesn't even *want* to become a Linux expert.
He/she is happy that they have a box that's easy to administer; they
want to workaround the box's shortcomings; and they want the box to make
money. These users (like me) have never seen a Cisco console cable but
(unlike me) they hope they never have to.

> Jeff, why not encourage others to try new hardware platforms and
> O/Ses for themselves instead of implying that "us Cobalt users"
> aren't smart enough to set up and administer our own Solaris
> based servers. Smells like F.U.D. to me.

I posit that the average member of the "us Cobalt users" has at least
above-average intelligence as evidenced by the fact that they're
entrepreneurs (who do not tend to be among the stupid portion of the
population) and by the fact that they're here on the list trying to
learn.

Jeff is not implying that "us Cobalt users" aren't smart enough. He's
saying that "us Cobalt users" probably are not presently equipped
(knowledge-wise) to make this kind of move. I will support this and
further argue that most of "us Cobalt users" have no *interest* in
making this move since it would cost an arm and a leg.

> At 1/3 the cost of a RaQ3/4, people will begin to realize soon
> enough that migrating to the Netra X1 it is well worth the time
> and effort of learning real UNIX administration and take off the
> Cobalt training wheels once and for all. You know as well as I do
> that they will be better off in the long run after Cobalt has been
> dissolved and Sun kills and stops supporting the RaQ/Qube product
> line.

(Cough.) Bullshit.

It took me 54 days of putting all my free time (which is quite limited)
into learning Linux administration so I could upgrade packages, shut
down unnecessary services, secure the box, and configure DNS, mail, and
web virtual hosts. I'm still documenting procedures, and I haven't even
*begun* to implement a GUI of any kind for my webhosting customers, God
help me. Since I value my time at about $100/hour (and sometimes bill
customers at up to $250/hour), I've put in at least $7000 into educating
myself so far, and expect the total cost to run at least $15,000 by the
time I'm fully ready to offer customers 99.99% reliability in what I do.

The hardware cost is far less important than the cost of my time, and
the cost my people's time, and the cost of downtime, and the opportunity
cost, and many other costs. How much will it cost for most of "us Cobalt
users" to learn all we have to learn?

Also, "you know as well as I do" is a way of converting an opinion into
a fact and subtly accusing the other person of either hiding information
or denying obvious truths (or lying). That Cobalt will be dissolved and
Sun will stop supporting its products is only a *theory*, which at
present only *you* hold. As such, it can at best be described as an
opinion and is most emphatically *not* a fact. I personally think it
neatly fills a hole in their product line... and I think Sun would have
to have its head entirely crammed up its ass to pay $2 BILLION for a
company they meant to dissolve.

--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Nueva Dirección: rpaiz@xxxxxxxx <mailto:rpaiz@xxxxxxxx>