Re: [cobalt-users] Support, Warranty and Hype

[baltimoremd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Roy A. Urick wrote:

> Thom,
>
> Thanks to the new support policy, its very simple to explain why these
> various bugs arent being fixed... (they already are at Sun).

You mean, above other things, someone at Sun actually took the time to
clean up the brain-dead majordomo setup?

> Why publish a
> fix for free when you can charge between $200/hr or $100/incident to repair
> them one by one? Sun/Cobalt was doing pretty good on this before they
> changed the support policy. Seems a bit too coincidental to me.

I'm not sure if it's coincidence....I think it's just plain arrogant.
After all, pre-Sun purchase Cobalt was still fabricating stories about
features and shipping RaQs with major flaws.

I really think Cobalt and Sun depend on their customers NOT knowing a lot
about system admin and the web hosting business...that way they can
produce the flawed products, sell them to the unsuspecting, and, as you've
mentioned, use the fixes as a cash cow.

To those that defend Cobalt/Sun, I might point out that if they produced
washing machines or cars that were flawed, they'd have to fix it...

But, this is the realm of computers...so normal business practice and
ethics seem not to apply.

Another thing that's so hard for me to fathom is why Cobalt/Sun would
act in such a way to alieniate their customer base....but then again,
they may have found that the real "appliance" operators will accept
a combination of shoddy product, lack of fixes for manufaturer induced
stupid washing machine tricks, no support and pay per incident support.

I do know, from posts to this list and email I've received that a
significant number of RaQ owners will/would not buy another Cobalt
product....based on the factors in the paragraph above.
>
> To clarify, I'm not saying these great guys like Bruce or Taco are
> responsible, Methinks its higher up and they cant do/say anything about it
> (they like their jobs).

I've seen the individual efforts of various Cobalt/Sun employees result
in some good things for all of us...as individuals, they are to be
commended...as individuals and professionals.

On the other hand, the corporate stance is miserable.  Some time ago I
collected a LOT of information ref problems, etc. from this list and
forwarded them to a highly placed Sun Employee.  Aparently the corporate
folks didn't want to do much with the information, as I have yet to see
any of the problems addressed, and/or heard back from the person.

It may be time to email the list of stuff to the SUN CEO/Legal department.

>
> And its also interesting to note whenever "hot button" topics such as this
> come up on the Cobalt discussion forums, they VERY quickly get deleted. I
> wouldnt be surprised if this list archive gets scrubbed to remove any less
> than favorable messages before they become permanent reference.

Oh, I don't think even Sun has enough guts to delete some of these
missives....after all, if no one else, the original poster would know.
But, I have noticed that certain type posts from certain folks seem to
take a long time to show up on the list...which leads me to believe that
either their server is overloaded, OR, someone actually reads these
messages and acts as a censor/moderator.

Of course, those tired of censorship and list cops can subscribe to other
lists.

thom

baltimoremd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx             Thom LaCosta K3HRN Webmaster
               http://www.baltimoremd.com/cobaltfacts/
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