[rescue] My U5 buy

[Amy]

On Sat, 11 Aug 2001, Bill Bradford wrote:

> The above is the reason why until recently, I never owned any *brand new*
> Sun hardware - and that was only because I was given a SunBalde 100 in
> exchange for some sysadmin  work.

and since you got it maybe 6 months ago, the blade's only been turned on
once and your ultra 60 just sits around running seti all day for months on
end.

what i think most people dont get is that this is how the sales market
works. it's either feed or famine. i grew up in a household where the two
main incomes came from ssales/comissions (autos/insurance). every year
around tax season it was famine. ever year around september it was feed.
noone complained and noone bitched...they just adjusted the feed/famine ratio
and saved up money during the feed times to compensate for the famine.

ultimately, its not sun's fault that the prices of equipment has dropped
and caused vendors or resellers to hurt/whine/rant/groan and mumble. it's
their own lack of financial planning and looking at the industry outlook that's
caused their problems. the good ones do the planning, anticipate things
and stay alive. *shrug* its a risk you take if you buy in extreme bulk
while the industry continually shits itself every six months.

as is there are only three 'vendors' i'd get sun--or otherwise--equipment
from (fred at workstations, marathon, and tobias k.)...those people i trust
not to rip us off. you get quality, price, service and a lot of help when
you need it.

we generally stay away from the tier of resellers below the vendors. in
general i've found that they tend to buy tons of stuff at auction (say
governmental or military) or local places to get 'finds' for extremely low
prices and then jack up the end cost astronomically to the eventual buyer.
what occurs is the local market goes to absolute shit for the average
customer. due to the guy buying stuff so much, the prices on the surplus
equipment rise, making it even more expensive for the people there looking
to buy a machine to use it. this kills the market for anyone who loves
finding machines, or for college kids looking for a machine at a reasonable
cost, etc.

--a