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Re: [TCLUG:11792] [TCLUG] I'd like some opinions on a business
i agree here, I have worked in the retail computer business, and have
tried to do business computer consulting on my own, including business
startup paperwork.. it can be a huge pain in the ass. unless you operate
like general nanosystems, and simply sell components at high volume, you
will never make money selling linux boxes.. the key to staying in
business selling systems is to provide services. if you sell a linux
based server, you need to sell a service contract with it. for hardware
and software maintence. selling installation services. even re-selling
ISP services.. something that will bring in a marginal monthy
income. this should support base business, and proffits will be taken
from new system sales.
Thank You,
Ben Kochie (ben@nerp.net)
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"Unix is user friendly, Its just picky about its friends."
On Sun, 2 Jan 2000, Shawn T . Amundson wrote:
>
> Scott,
>
> A few years back myself and a couple of friends started a business
> to do just this. What we learned (quickly) is this:
>
> * If you can't buy in volume, you can't compete with any moderately
> large corportation in terms of prices. Buying processors from intel
> alone is problematic at best. (Rule of thumb - you will pay double.)
> There is a huge barrier to entry. (You might think you can do it
> cheaper than Penguin or VA, but you haven't added in anything but hardware
> costs yet.)
>
> * We couldn't do it part-time at night because we had to do
> shipping and receiving which almost requires and office and
> definately requires a lot of time.
>
> * Hardware is flakey. A good percentage of the hardware you get will
> be bad. So you need to stock up or tell you customers it may be
> 2-4 weeks before you get them the machine. (How many people you know
> that want to wait a long time for a $800 machine?)
>
> * Forget about dual-booting windows machines unless the customer is
> willing to pay a lot more, because the licensing for Windows OEM
> prevents dual booting. So you need the full version. For NT, you
> can add on a nice additional $350 to the price of your machine.
>
> * Advertising is mega-expensive.
>
> * Being on Red Hat's hardware list will indeed get you some calls and
> e-mails, but probably not quite enough.
>
> * We couldn't market anything because we didn't know where to start.
> Putting ads all over magazines probably doesn't get to your core market
> which is businesses.
>
> In addition to this, Dell, Gateway, or Compaq will put you out of business
> some day by deciding to sell machines in ads in PC Magazine.
>
> After the first couple of machines we sold, we realized it just wasn't
> for us and we gave up. (We are lazy and did have other jobs at the time.)
> About a year later, we formed a corporation and now do software development
> full-time.
>
> Lastly, I'd suggest trying to start the business with someone who has
> gone through the process of starting a business at least once before.
>
> -Shawn
>
> On Fri, Dec 31, 1999 at 05:55:01PM -0600, Scott wrote:
> > For about a year now I've been pondering the OEM
> > business as I'm tired of minimum wage jobs that don't use
> > what I know. Chris Palmer has been listening to me bitch
> > about this on #sigfs for quite awhile. :P Anyway, he
> > suggested I config a few boxes, and post them here to see if
> > there is any interest before I dump all my capital into this
> > idea.
> > I've priced out three complete machines (minus
> > monitors), but I'll only include the key bits to keep this
> > relatively short.
> >
> > Box 1: A heavy duty server - $5500
> >
> > Quad Xeon 400 (512k cache)
> > Intel SC450NX mb w/onboard u2w
> > 256mb mem
> > 36.4 gig u2w IBM
> > Antec case w/dual 400w hot swappable
> >
> > Box 2: A low-end server - $1100
> >
> > Dual Celeron 366
> > Abit BP6 board
> > 128mb mem
> > 9.1 gig u2w IBM
> > Adaptec 2930 u2w controller
> > Antec case w/300w supply
> >
> > Box 3: A low-end workstation - $700
> >
> > Single Celeron 366
> > Abit ZM6 board
> > 128mb mem
> > 9.1 gig IDE IBM
> > Antec case w/300w supply
> >
> > Obviously these are just examples, I'm just trying to
> > find out if the other linux boys & girls think this is a
> > viable idea or not. Comments & suggestions are welcome of
> > course.
> >
> > Scott
> > --
> > The sweet things don't stick around but the bullshit lasts forever.
> > -Nicole Blackman
> >
> >
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> --
> Shawn T. Amundson amundson@eventloop.com
> Research and Development http://www.eventloop.com/
> EventLoop, Inc. http://www.snorfle.net/
>
> "The assumption that the universe looks the same in every
> direction is clearly not true in reality." - Stephen Hawking
>
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