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From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Subject: Re: Unix for PC
Message-ID: <D0Gy4D.FL7@telly.on.ca>
Organization: Sound Software Ltd., Brampton, Ontario
References: <3bvmo1$hgr@cascade.pnw.net> <STEINAR.HAUG.94Dec6203939@runit.sintef.no> <D0Ex7E.2nv@ssbunews.ih.att.com> <3c4rhh$54a@bantu.provo.novell.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 1994 01:43:24 GMT
Lines: 72
In article <3c4rhh$54a@bantu.provo.novell.com>,
Darren R. Davis <darrend@bikini.USG.Sandy.Novell.COM> wrote:
[ I'll skip down to the part where I'm dragged in :-) ]
>|> Sales / Support:
>|> UNIXware is distributed via resellers, where SOlaris is sold
>|> directly by SunSOft. I suspect better support is facilitated
>|> via the direct route. Our experience with Solairs support has
>|> been goo(but not great).
>I believe one of the VARs such as Evan can answer how resellers are better
>suited to handle you than direct route.
It depends on circumstance. I obviously have my biases, but I'll readily
admit that there are times when the VAR/reseller route is not necessarily
a big advantage. The large customer or developer who has significant
in-house Unix smarts, is prepared to not just have Internet access
but depend on it, and knows the product lines of their vendor(s)
intimately, doesn't really gain a lot by having a VAR in the loop.
It's been my experience that the number of present (and potential)
users of Intel-based Unix that fit this category is fairly small.
But it also explains why I as a VAR don't really have a problem with
the Novell program that sold direct to developers.
To look at another vendor of Intel Unix that received a reputation of
"VAR-hostile", I use the example of Dell. That company produced what
many people still consider the best-ever implementation of SVR4.0 for
Intel. It was reasonably priced, had many bug fixes in the USL code
(that other OEMs didn't discover), bundled in a *ton* of stuff, and
had a support team that was both passionate and competent.
But Dell Unix died a fairly painful death as products go. Dell, like
SunSoft, shunned VARs and sold direct. This approach worked fine
for those who knew what they were doing. But most end-users, the kind
who don't even know what a Unix is, let alone that their vertical app
is running on it, never heard of Dell Unix. Their exposure to Unix was
*exclusively* through the VAR channel, which to date has been the
main path for SCO to go. Solaris and Novell alike would love to have
SCO's market share in this corner of the world -- study carefully how
they got there. Hint: SCO doesn't sell direct.
The downside of resellers and VARs is, by far, finding the right one.
Getting authorization for most of the vendors is still relatively easy,
and even so there are precious few resellers who really know their OS
beyond installation and being able to run specific pieces of application
software. It's important to get one who knows the product, its bugs and
fixes, timing and availability of fixes and updates, and different means
of getting help.
SCO has, through sheer inertia, built up a loyal following of VARs,
which is why Novell and SunSoft have an uphill battle no matter how
technically advanced their stuff is. The difference is, though, that
Novell has chosen to take on SCO on its own turf, while SunSoft has
chosen just to ignore that sector and appeal direct.
For any given installation, all this may not matter. But for the
developer trying to determine which platforms will be deployed most in
the field, which will have the critical mass which attracts software ports
and third-party support, I just can't see Solaris getting the installed
base of SCO or UnixWare in the medium to long term.
Amongst those to whom a computer system is an end unto itself, Intel
Solaris may even be better (heck, so might Linux!); but to those for
whom a computer is an intelligent toaster, an appliance to be used for
some other goal, I just can't see a direct-sales approach working at all.
--
Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software Ltd., located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
Novell Unix Master Reseller / evan@telly.on.ca / (905) 452-0504
Are vegetarians allowed to eat animal crackers?