Re: [cobalt-users] Where Is The Future?

[Malcolm McLeary <mmcleary@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Greg,

> I know that everyone on this list has their own opinion and I'd
> like to hear it, and discuss it. If you have anything to add please speak
> up!

I was bitten by the Qube bug with the original 2700WG and believe it and the
follow on models were great solutions for small businesses.  The external
power supply and controls on the back were a bit of a pain, but given that
once installed you hardly had to touch it, it was ok.

Before it all came to an end I decided that a RaQ4 running the Qube3 OS and
installed in a standard comms cabinet was the way to go.

These days I've reassessed the situation and install the LaCie Ethernet Disk
where I would have installed a Qube3.  It doesn't come close to the
capability of the Qube3 OS, but it does have the same form factor as the
RaQ4 and simply does what most small businesses want (centralised shared
file access).  Internally its a PC so it would be really nice if there was a
distribution of the Qube3 OS which could be installed on standard PC
hardware ... the LaCie Ethernet Disk would be my choice of hardware.

Alternatively, given that my preferred desktop OS is MacOS then simply
migrating to MacOS X Server is attractive.  My problem is the cost and form
factor of the hardware.  I'd really like Apple to release a SOHO version of
the Xserve which is only the depth of a RaQ4 ... it could be 2RU, but it
needs to be only 12" deep.

Probably the most attractive feature of the Qube3 OS was the integration and
simplicity of the GUI.  It was a great selling point ... anyone could
administer it.  This meant customers were comfortable with being able to
administer it if they had to, but most of my customers get me to make
changes anyway.  The beauty of the Web based management interface was that
owners could use both MacOS or Windows to admin it and it could be done
remotely.  The downside of MacOS X Server is that the admin tools are all
MacOS X based, but given my experience with owners getting me to remotely
administer their Qubes, then the cross platform administration is probably
not such a big deal.

Cheers,  Malcolm