it seems that there are at least 2 camps of people in the slimserver
universe:

1. those who think the product should work as the customer expects, and

2. those who think the customer should work as the product expects

i work as a software engineer (previously also in system
administration) like many of us in these forums, and like many who use
slimdevices' products.  so, we all are at least familair with computing
devices, and the maintenanace issues surrounding ANY computer.

i used to be be in camp #2 - i thought that i had to work to get my
computers into the shape i wanted them.  i believed that all computing
devices, even one that "just" plays music, needed to be configured, and
lovingly adjusted and constantly tweaked, and that's just what it takes
to be able to own and use a product.

i have changed horses, and am now in camp #1 - i want device
manufacturers to provide the customer an appliance.  i have simply lost
interest in dealing with hardware, software, firmware and any other
*ware, that does not work when plugged in and turned on.  in other
words i want a product, not someone's bench experiment that happens to
work, sort of, mostly, and depends on the positions of the sun, moon
and stars.

i've gone from using sun and linux machines to apple macintosh - you
plug it in, and it works in a very powerful way.  i don't feel "boxed
in" or "trapped" with something less than satisfactory, just because i
did not need to spend days or weeks tweaking it into a working state.

i also do not find it helpful for those who think that you must tweak
your setup constantly to keep it running to berate those who believe
that the product ought to work for the customer.  it's just two
different mindsets.  not everyone likes to mess with machinery all the
time.  i know i don't - or at least, not any more.  i'll do the work to
set something up, but i do expect commercial product quality out of
hardware and software.  that means the product works consistently when
you turn it on - no ifs, no ands and no buts.

products that require as much attention as slimserver are not really
full-fledged commercial products, they're for tinkerers, hobbyists or
geeks.  i agree with forestcaver that the slimserver product is far
from ready for mainstream, but works in the meantime, as long as oyu
have patience for it.  after about a month of tech support, i finally
have a working readynas and slimserver setup.  i will never touch it
again, except to add more music to the nas.  it's too painful to deal
with a product in a perpetual alpha/beta state like slimserver.

-sherm


-- 
shermoid

"you are only young once, but you can be immature forever"
"life is uncertain; eat dessert first" - anonymous

please visit my mcintosh website: http://alumni.cse.ucsc.edu/~sherman
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