Re: [cobalt-users] RaQ3 Kernel update 4.0.1 & Bus Speed

[Wayne Sagar <wsagar@xxxxxxxx>]

At 07:32 PM 4/29/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Web hosting is a competitive business.  You can't stand still on the
>services you offer.  However, the only way to advance with Cobalt is to
>do "forklift upgrades" (replace all hardware) every year or two.

Exactly,

I lease a server from hostpro, they have been VERY good to me... I'm not
located at any of their main facilities, rather at a company they bought
that does their RaQ hosting. How happy is a company like hostpro going to
be when they have customers (like me) bitching because their machine is no
longer servicable... read that.. "gee.. I've been hacked and there is
nothing I can do to stop it... please send your tech to do a restore for me" 

When these requests start flowing in.. or more likely requests by server
lessee's who dont' have a clue why their machine is no longer
functioning... and there is nothing hostpro can do other than move the
client to a new machine and basically scrap the old one... how happy are
they going to be?

My roommate suscribes to industry magazines (third year software
engineering student) and I read them when I manage to run out of other,
more interesting material in the "library" <ahem> I've seen the ads...
There are other small "appliance" type machines coming out that are aimed
squarely at the RaQ marketplace.

I strongly suspect the larger companies like host pro and
<yech>verio</yech> are the <anotherbadword>lions</anotherbadword> share of
the RaQ market... Piss those guys off and I think Sun/Cobalt will have to
start re-thinking thier strategy..

Till then, I'll cross my fingers and hope I do not have to ask hostpro to
migrate me to a newer machine, especially since they have started charging
me much less for my current one than originally contracted for.. (how's
that for service.. drop the price without being asked!)

Answering another question that has been asked here lately... "which is the
best raq hosting system?" I'll have to say that I've had extremely good
luck with hostpro.. Not *always* perfect, especially during a period of
core router upgrades.. but they have always beein in the process of fixing
any problem I've noticed when I've called them about a problem and there is
always a human on the other end of the phone 24/7 and only once has that
human been so ignorant of the problem that they did the "we're running
fine, it has to be something you did" route...

So... addendum to message to Cobalt/Sun... *SERVICE* *SERVICE* *SERVICE* is
what keeps cusotmers happy and keeps them coming back and/or staying with a
company.... not flashy new hardware....  Any of us leasing machines can
move to new companies with little problem other than a day or two of
propagation.... easily solved by keeping the old machine active for a week
or so after the move and making any changes on both locations... 

*IF* we are forced to make such moves... will we choose a raq location.. or
one who has a more servicable machine? I hope we don't progress/regress to
the point that we have to answer this question.

Wayne