andrew@jhereg.osa.com (Andrew C. Esh) (05/10/91)
I just got back from a local Computer Trade Show. It was the Strictly Business Computer Expo up here in Minneapolis. Nice show. Got to see some interesting things. The organizers of the show need to learn to get those mailorder places to bring in some product to sell though. I like to get a deal on a hard disk or something when I'm at a show. ANYWAY I noticed a disturbing trend in the advertising. It seems like everyone and his dog is saying that they do networking. Not just "Yes our software run on a network", but "Buy our software, and we will consult on netowrking your machines together so you can take full advantage of it." Cable vendors are saying "We will pull the cable, AND connect the computers together." Novell vendors are saying "We can get your LAN to talk to your VAX", when all they really want to do is sell you Novell software. This worries me because the customers who are really out there trying to buy Networking as a product are being taken advantage of. Too many vendors are selling just a piece of the whole solution, while saying that they can provide the whole package. Then when the network doesn't work, the reaction is a lot of finger pointing at the box vendor or the cable vendor or the OS Software vendor. In the end the customer is stuck in the middle, trying to mediate between all the vendors and deal with a network that is not performing as expected. What we need is more discussion of networking. We need to help each other understand that networking is still a new discipline, and we have a lot of folks who are not savvy enough to debunk some of these sales schemes that are prevalent in the industry. Get people to beware the vendor who also does consulting. They are biased; Salesmen in Consultants clothing. We can do this in a number of ways: This newgroup. Great place. A lot gets done here. I also urge those of you who are solving the problems out there to write articles for the industry rags, as well as read them. Judging by the quality of some of the articles, they could use the help. We need better articles than "How I Traced Coax Cabling with a 9-volt battery and my Tongue." We can also volunteer to help out in our (copious :-) spare time. I've spent a couple of evenings helping find the INIT which was crashing TOPS on my girlfriend's sister's hairdresser's brother's Macintosh network at his Desktop Publishing firm. Also, do the other kind of networking. Get out there and meet people, and talk about our kind of network. Shake hands, pass out business cards. If we are all talking to one another, the vendors will realize that they can easily be caught in a lie. Reputation will be more valuable than it is now, since their actions will be more actively reputed. And join or form a user's group. It worked for computers, why not networks? Once the consumer becomes educated, the industry will mature. There will be mailorder places where you can buy whatever box you want, and they will sell product to you at a good price, since that is all they can do to make a buck. If the customer needs cable pulled, they will call up their cable pulling service provider, tell them what they need done, and it will happen in a professional manner, and believe me, this industry needs a strong dose of professionalism at the moment. -- Andrew C. Esh andrew@osa.com Open Systems Architects, Inc. Mpls, MN 55416-1528 Punch down, turn around, do a little crimpin' (612) 525-0000 Punch down, turn around, plug it in and go ...