Ascend Archive
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: (ASCEND) In Defense Of Ascend...

On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, Scott Kozicki wrote:

> Let it be known, we use RH Linux completely for operations. While we do
> run NT (and even MacOS) servers, they are specifically for customer
> applications (sql server, netdynamics, cold fusion, etc.). All the
> basics (mail, dns, webserver, ftp, etc) are driven by RH.

Before last week, I would have accepted that statement at face value.  At
least now, I can vouche for this.  In fact, I'm going to recommend that
our next server have RH on it.  I was totally blown away with how easy it
was to intergrate into an existing system and how flexible it is.  Mind
you, I prefer Slackware for my personal pc.  Since RedHat does have
support, I think this to be just as viable, if not more so, than BSD (free
or commercial [and before Matt says something, yes, we use BSDI as well]).
 
> We run RH not because of cost (although that helps) but because I can
> ask a question and get an answer back usually in 15 minutes from a
> knowledgable person. I'm on HOLD longer with Redmond than that! In terms
> of performance and high availability, RH's served us outstandingly. It
> simply cannot be beat, especially on a cost analysis level. Even if it
> cost the same as NT, it would still be a clear winner!

NT has caused us a third world of Hell.  It simply wasn't and isn't a
viable option for us.

> One thing's for sure, Ascend *didn't* conduct a marketing survey before
> they decided which flavors to offer here. I'm sure had they done this,
> the overwhelming number of networks that run OS's like Linux and BSD
> would've trounced the commercial OS's.

I agree.

> If Ascend thinks that it's okay to only support commercial OS's because
> that's the only way they can charge for product, then they need to
> reevaulate the market. While there might be grumbling by the Linux
> community to have to pay for a product that is derivative of free souce,
> I'm sure that most of us would pay for a tighter solution/support on
> Linux. Take it from your users Ascend, we want you to support this
> platform, and we'll pay a fair price for the products on it.

When did Ascend consult their users on the OS?  I remember some surveys on
what I thought of customer support, but nothing on what OS we're using or
want to.  Matt?  We have purchased quite a bit of Ascend equipment and
have never been asked this question.  Since I've seen the same question
asked on the list, I'd like to know just where this data comes from!

Since we're the customers you can interact with, I'd think that this
suggestion could be taken up with Engineering far more efficiently than if
we tried calling in ourselves (have you tried waiting on hold or waiting
for the email response that doesn't come?).
--
Joseph Hickman
  Director of Network Operations / System Administration
  joseph@psn.net

++ Ascend Users Mailing List ++
To unsubscribe:	send unsubscribe to ascend-users-request@bungi.com
To get FAQ'd:	<http://www.nealis.net/ascend/faq>
References: