Dell

[Brian Densmore]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Hull
> 
> Quoting Brian Densmore:
> 
> > Compaq servers can also be purchased with Linux on them right?
> 
> ... During the era when I 
> was working with
> Compaq hardware, everything was proprietary. If a drive 
> failed or a stick of
> RAM failed, they had to be replaced with Compaq parts. And 
> those parts failed
> on a regular basis.
> 
> ... when Compaq and
> HP merged...
Maybe part of the reason Compaq merged with HP was, failure rates and
proprietary parts. We just got in a Compaq server for a client last week
and it looked like a pretty decent server. 

> 
> I've been working on Dell hardware at work, exclusively for 
> the last six years
So then you have no recent experience with Compaq servers then. Six
years is an eternity in this market.

> and have been extremely pleased with it. I was running Linux 
> on hardware from
> Dell before they supported it with very little problems.
No one ever said Dell didn't work with Linux, but just that they are
not really supportive of Linux. In fact I hear lots of complaints about
their Customer support.

But what it boils down to is there are plenty of stories going both ways.
Dell has always had a pretty decent reputation for rock-solid hardware.
Compaqs have always had a rep for proprietary. HP has always been known
as rock-solid and expensive. IBM is well IBM. Then there is everyone else.

I don't have much experience personally with any brands as I tend to build
whatever I need, because the hardware is always rock solid, the price is
competitive and the service is outstanding. So I get the best of all worlds.
If something fails I always know who to blame, and where to go to get it fixed.

[Let the hardware religion war continue]

Brian D