On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, Jeffry Smith wrote:
> Just remember - they're the same ones now touting 5 9's capability. Quick
> check says that, based on yesterdays outage, and assuming MS stays up 24x7
> rest of the year, they'll hit 99.8% uptime.
>
> Here's a story on MS's rationale for the outage:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16354.html
They are blaming a technician's screw-up for this one.
It may be true. It may be a lie. It does not matter.
True story: One of our customers has a frame relay line. At one time, it
developed a data-dependent problem, where a certain bit pattern would cause it
to choke and start dropping packets like crazy. The frame provider said it
was our fault for transmitting data patterns that were pathological for the
frame line. He could not understand why the customer was ready to cancel the
service.
You see, when someone like this company orders a frame relay line, they
don't really want a frame relay line. They want to get email and browse the
web. They happen to need a frame relay line to do so, so they get one. But
if they stop being able to browse the web or get email, then the service is
broken. It matters not that it is a pathological case; they couldn't send
their email anymore, and that was the point of the whole thing in the first
place.
If Microsoft's website is down, then it is a problem. Saying "it was a
technician who did it; it is not a technology problem" is completely useless.
Go ahead and try and tell your customers that an outage was not a technology
problem, and see how much sympathy you get.
Available means available. Down means down. If your ecommerce site is
down, you are losing money. Period. Full stop. End of story. Excuses or
explanations do not matter. Your customers will go to your competition, and
you will go out of business. That is the way things work.
If Microsoft cannot deliver the kind of reliability you need on *their own*
systems, why should you think they can do it on yours?
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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