Re: [cobalt-users] Sun Fire V100/V120

["alan@" <alan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi guys,

I admire all your enthusiasm, but...

Is it really a good idea to expend so much time and effort on extending the
life of machines that are, lets face it, past the sell by date ?

I don't mean to be rude, but when processors are cheap, memory is cheaper,
and Hdisks are cheap, what is the point in trying to drag RAQs into the 21st
century ?

Only one point seems to come up again and again... the GUI.

I use the raq gui and Ensim on a white box, and although the ensim offers
more options thru the gui, the raq is easier to use.

I realise that linux doesn't need 2 gig cpus etc, but, lets face it, pretty
soon, the market will be so small for replacement parts that the boxes will
die anyway.

I see the future as a decent gui, as the raq provides (for inexperienced
users), not sticking with a 450 Mhz cpu just because its expensive to
replace now.

Sun may or may not have effectively killed this product, but they are in
business, as are we. We have to move on and as the saying goes "adopt, adapt
and improve".
By all means extend the life of your existing machines if you can, but the
end is in sight. I for one am looking for alternatives for any product that
I buy NOW. You have to look long term, even though in this business that
means 6 months max.

Besides which, of course, larger companies than I, can afford to rent me
machines and Bwidth at a cost far below anything I can achieve, so it
becomes inefficient to run the low spec machines. Plus of course there is
always an upgrade path available with rental, whereas the buy outright
option leaves me with a doorstop increasingly swiftly.

I will be sorry to see the end of the raqs but, hey, its only a tool.

Alan (trying to be fair but sane)