On 21 August 2010 00:27, John Francis <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 21 August 2010 09:35, cjt <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > At this point, it'll probably be too little, too late. One can > > already purchase a complete PC for _much_ less than a SunRay, and > > that's a pretty compelling value proposition, despite all the Ray's > > advantages, and particularly in light of the uncertainty going > > forward (your plea notwithstanding). > > It is such an uphill battle selling a thin solution when the cost of > the terminals alone is well in excess of what a basic fat client would > cost. The fat client, of course, delivers a much better multi-media > experience. Now factor in the various RTU's and server software costs > and you're looking at a big outlay before you even start delivering > end user desktops and software. > > Now I, and pretty much everyone on this list can understand the TCO > benefits of Sun Ray. Just saying it's a hard sell to the decision > makers for smallish deployments ~ 50 seats or less. > > It used to be much easier when you could say the per seat cost, > including servers for the thing clients, was less than the fat case. > This is simply not the case any more even in the case of native Linux > or Solaris desktops let alone VDI with Windows. > > I'm looking for enlightenment here, not flaming. Look forward to some > feedback. > I think you are on the mark there. It certainly appears as if Oracle is targeting the enterprise, which to be fair - is where it's main market share has traditionally been. That leaves alot of small partners and small customers (like me/us) unhappy. The price of the Sun Rays (certainly here in the UK) seemed to rocket before Oracle took over, I used to get a 2FS for something around £290-£310, that went up to around £380 late 2008, I got a quote a couple of weeks ago for a Sun Ray 3+ and it came in at over £400. Now, if you are "enterprise" with a couple of hundred desktops, hardware price is only a small factor of the equation, Sun Ray on large standard deployments are just so much easier to manage - there is you sale, add in teh reliability and security and it looks good. Now, move into the small business sector and it doesn't look so rosey, I can get a small for factor machine, bung Ubuntu LTS on it and install it for a fraction of that price - the management benefits aren't so appealing - one of my customers has 2 seats!!, largest has 20. Now, when I add the hassle that "my" deployments entail (we use Ubuntu desktops - Solaris and RHEL are archaic in comparison) and it suddenly, and frankly - is not worth it. What would make it more "appealing"? From a personal perspective I probably would embrace it a little more freely if they had Ubuntu LTS support - that way the management aspects become more relevant, I can absorb some of the increased costs because I would make savings elsewhere. Presently I am sat in front of a terminal, trying to get a new Ubuntu 10.04 LTS working, I have little hair as it is!! In the back of my mind I am just thinking how I can get rid of the Sun Rays my clients use - not nice I know, I *really* do like them, but I just cannot work against the growing number of negatives.... -- Regards Sean Clarke... struggling on....
_______________________________________________ SunRay-Users mailing list [email protected] http://www.filibeto.org/mailman/listinfo/sunray-users
