Comments on: Dell: Windows 7 More Expensive Than Vista, XP

By: Yoda

Yoda — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:03:15 +0000

My IT department installed the RC on a few internal computers and figured out it was pretty much a UI nightmare. Font rendering is some weird anti-aliased crap that looks horrible on CRTs and there’s no way to remove it. We’re skipping Win 7 completely, and I’m going to try to get them to try switching to Kubuntu. ;O

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:24:28 +0000

Carlos: You never need to apologize for sharing lots of wisdom on TheVARguy.com. Our resident blogger thanks you for stopping by and offering your perspectives.

By: carlos

carlos — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:03:00 +0000

… and for the typos

By: carlos

carlos — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:50:33 +0000

VAR Guy: Most of my money comes from building or customising Intranet web applications. There is just no better platform to build web apps on than a LAMP stack. All free and open source, because of this there is TONS of open source/free products I can grab and configure for my clients. Mostly SugarCRM or building web apps on CakePHP. I couldn’t imagine building all these apps on IIS with .Net as I would not have the same free resources (I actually started with building ASP Intranet sites years ago.) The plus is that free software allows me to do my job for a lot cheaper (for the client). Save hundreds of dollars on my custom built servers just cutting out Windows Server licenses alone.

Also I do the basic “computer guy” stuff in my Uncles store, where people, usually lower income, come by and drop off computers. I save big on not renting space (pay my Uncle a commission), and I just call to check in if anybody dropped anything off. By installing Ubuntu I save myself the risk that a few other ‘computer guys’ are risking by installing pirated versions of Windows XP on every computer or laptop that the person lost the disk for. Installs quicker, all software is ready to go and the only drivers I usually have to install is the b43 firmware. Also I can safely offer 6 months guaranteed no viruses or spy-ware. Charge a little extra for a Windows re-install, because I have to manually go in and install AVG, OpenOffice and a few others. A lot more if they don’t have the disks, because then its $99 for a new Windows Home (and no 6 month guarantee).

I think your wrong about the death of the computer guy, regardless of how easy they make it – computers will always mess up and unless they’re only $20 for a new one, they’re going to bring it in to see if it can be fixed before they go to buy the new one. They will also come to you for advice, lawyers will have me go to a store with them just to pick out a laptop. Just because I can go online and fill out a few forms and get back some legal documents does not mean lawyers are dead though.

If ALL you do is vend software though (no cloud services, etc.), you’re completely right – if your not dead now, you soon will be. It’s like a musician only still only selling music and doing no shows (which is kind of their version of service.)

:-/ Sorry for being so long winded.

By: Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:52:09 +0000

Not to worry…I think you are safe TVG

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:38:55 +0000

Stuart: Kill off the Computer Guys. But please don’t fire The VAR Guy

Best
-TVG

By: Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:29:24 +0000

Carlos…good point, totally missed the music and movie industries. Trust me, I get the evolution thing. That is why I don’t worry too much on the sale of products any longer. I specialize in process, workflow and people skills. Computer Guys as we know it or used to know it are slowly dying off.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:31:43 +0000

Carlos: Keep us posted. Let us know where you’re specializing in the open source market, and why. The VAR Guy wants to hear more…

By: carlos

carlos — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:20:23 +0000

Stuart: I make more money from Free Open Source software, than closed. And IT is definitely not the only industry facing the “I Want It Free”, look at the music industry (very soon the movie industry). It’s called, evolving.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:37:43 +0000

Stuart: The VAR Guy realizes that the open source crowd sometimes attacks your views on MSFT. But your views will always be welcome, especially since you provide reality checks for Microsoft solution providers on a regular basis.

Keep us posted on your Windows 7-related engagements once the OS reaches market.

By: Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:32:59 +0000

VARGuy, I wrote in my blog yesterday something totally unrelated but had to get my shots in on our industry and the influence a popcorn guy opened my eyes to.

You know the computer industry is the only industry that expects to survive on free software and no one making profit.

Saying that though, pricing must be competitive to ensure adoption by the market. I for one believe that Windows 7 is worth the price tag, it is the best OS that Microsoft has released in it’s life time, it is rock solid throughout the beta process. However, they do have a huge hill to climb especially in our “I want it for free” mindset that it sweeping our beloved industry – that eventually no one will be able to make a living in, except for those who understand the top two levels of the pyramid that HTG members get.

The debate on closed vs. open source will go on forever

I play in the top part of the pyramid, let’s get busy!

Cheers

Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB
http://stuart.calgarybloggers.ca