[ale] Compaq Reliant web server (Leasing & Recycling)

[aaron]

Previously, Leonard Thornton typed into the ether:

... [snip many other well spoken observations on the
     thread of business computer leasing problems] ...

> What this does is present small developers the opportunity to pick
> up used equipment of relatively current vintage at a bargain price,
> allowing us to be far more competitive than the big boys who are
> locked in the viscous cycle.  While I may not have a Pentium IV
> 1.4Ghz to work on, my $300 AMD Athlon 800 system is plenty adequate
> to develop product on to compete in the marketplace.

Heh, heh... you found the Silver Lining in the absurd cloud of tax and
cost concerns surounding business computer leasing. :-)

I know my teenager sure appreciates the fallout from the "viscious
cycle"! She finally got her own Linux system last month (233mhz/64M)
because we could afford a $100 BDay present; her mom's employer was
cycling it's lease and turned over about 60 -very- usable systems to
employees for near nothing.

However idiotic (kafka-esque?) the bean counter business case reasons
behind computer leasing, it's tough to deny that the related commodity
pricing and equipment turnover present countless places where the
efficiencies of Linux (and friends) prove a real advantage. The steady
supply of cheap, functional hardware, for both first world and
developing countries, is a great opportunity for Open Source solutions
to build a dominant following. The simple fact of the situation is that
older machines will always outnumber the newer ones, and sensible
thinking, bean counter or not, will find little reason to lease or
subscribe with the "Bleeding Edge" when one can purchase, own, use and
control "Tried-And-True" for a fraction of the cost.

I think a great many of the home and small business users who first
start exploring Linux of late are doing so because they have some 2 to
4 year old Pentium class box at hand (or available for peanuts) that
simply needs a decent, efficient, user freindly and low overhead OS
with a well rounded software bundle to make it useful to them. If Linux
suppliers and the community can continue with rapid, significant
progress on the "User Friendliness" and "Standard Office Applications"
fronts, the commodity lease cycles might become a Linux sys admin's
fortress instead of a frustration.

... [snip still more well spoken observations on the
     thread of business computer leasing problems] ...

peace
(after justice)
aaron
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