[K12OSN] off the shelf PC as Server

[Petre Scheie]

Did the in-house tech have his checkbook out to give you money to purchase a non 
'obsolete' server?  I think you're being very practical by _starting_ with an 
off-the-shelf box.  If the system works well for the limited number of clients, _then_ 
you can talk about spending more money for a bigger server or adding the the existing 
server, to support more clients.  And won't it be nice to have to only upgrade one box 
to provide services for a whole bunch of additional clients?

Sorry for the snooty tone, but I get really tired of hearing of people like your tech 
who obviously don't know what they're talking about.  Reminds me of a logic puzzle I 
encountered as a kid:

A husband and wife were planning to take a vacation by car.  In preparation, the husband 
took the car to the local gas station to have the mechanic check it over to make sure 
everything was in working order.  When he returned home, his wife asked how the car was. 
  He replied, "Everything is fine, but the tires will only last 4000 more miles."  To 
which the wife replied, "Our trip is 6000 miles.  That means we'll have to carry four 
spare tires with us."  To which the husband replied, "That's not what I figured."

And the puzzle is to figure out how many spare tires are actually necessary.  The answer 
is two: The couple buys two spare tires and puts them in the trunk.  They drive the 
first 2000 miles of the trip on the existing tires.  Then they remove the front tires, 
put them in the trunk, and put the new spares on the front.  Then they drive another 
2000 miles.  Now the rear tires are exhausted of their 4000 miles, so those come off, 
and the tires in the trunk, which can still go another 2000 miles, go on the rear.  And 
they drive the last 2000 miles.

The point of the puzzle, in our context, is that the obvious answer isn't necessarily 
the best answer.  Providing computers to people by buying everyone a fat client is the 
obvious answer, but it isn't the best answer.  And when you look at the purchase, 
management, maintenance, reliability, and disposal costs of fat clients, in many cases, 
they are not even a viable answer.

Petre

Ray Garza wrote:
> On Thursday 28 September 2006 18:49, Joe Guenther wrote:
> 
> Thanks everyone for your input. Your input corroborates my decision to use an 
> off the shelf PC for this particular project.
> 
> I installed that system for the Housing Authority and their in-house tech came 
> around and said that it was obsolete (of course I wasn't there to defend 
> myself). I couldn't figure out what he was referring to. It's not like I used 
> a 486DX2 PC as a server. Now I find myself trying to defend my decision to 
> non-computer people who do not know any of the "lingo" and rely on him to 
> explain. A web of office politics that I'll have to cut through.
>