Okay, I get your point and it is well taken. The flip side is that there is only competition at the product level, so that there is less incentive for NetApp (or any other vendor in a similar position) to drive costs down. Yes, I know that there are many vendors with competing products (Auspex, EMC, DataDirect, etc), so I guess I'll exit gracefully from this thread with a the admonition "buyer beware".

-----Original Message----- From: Rob Windsor [mailto:windsor@adc.com] Sent: Monday, November 09, 1998 4:17 PM To: Sam Schorr Cc: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: Re: Potential user has questions

On Mon, 09 Nov 1998 13:25:57 PST, Sam Schorr wrote:

I think the reasoning here is not quite thorough enough. If I buy a

Compaq

server and then I install a 3-Com ethernet card, I still expect, and get, full support from Compaq. This has been the case in the clone, or Intel world for quite awhile. I know that it is less true the more proprietary you get, but still is essentially the case, even in the IBM mainframe

world

and in the UNIX world. I am now in the middle of an issue between Network Appliance and Microsoft and I would NEVER buy another filer if NetApp

tried

to deflect response to the fact that I use Microsoft products and

therefore

I should debug the Microsoft side first. Whether I like it or not, and whether NetApp likes it or not, multi-vendor environments MUST be

supported

• there is no option.

But Compaq doesn't make software, they didn't write the OS that you are trying to get to talk to that 3-Com ethernet card. Who's responsibility is it to ensure that there are drivers for your OS on that Compaq? 3Com will happily help you out with Microsoft products since the time spent writing/fixing those drivers have a tangible effect on hardware sales. I bet they aren't so quick with others, particularly if you are not on an Intel-based mainboard.

Imagine calling 3Com up and asking if they have drivers for their 3c905 running "Network Appliances Data OnTapp v5.x" for the Alpha CPU.

So, NetApp should write the driver, you say? The more wizbang cards from Fry's that people want to put in their filers, the more development work that NetApp has to put into "nonstandard" (not OEM'd by them) hardware, and the more expensive the filers get. Afterall, they need to bill the development time back to the customers somehow.

That is not what we call a "win win" situation.

-- Rob ---------------------------------------- Rob Windsor E-Mail - mailto:windsor@adc.com Senior Unix Systems Administrator Voice - phone:972-680-6919 Computer Services Fax - phone:972-680-0370 Business Broadband Group ADC Telecommunications Richardson, TX 75082