What does that have to do with it?

Post #40,251 by Andrew Grygus 5/28/02 11:08:43 PM Reply	What does that have to do with it? The server operating system doesn't have to be at all related to the desktop. Witness Novell Netware, Linux / Samba, WarpServer and others. Whether users recognize it or not, AOL recognizes they are next for an "air supply" cutoff, so you can be very, very sure their server will not be Windows based. See also AOL and Gecko / Mozilla. Case may be other things, but he's not an idiot. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #40,330 by orion 5/29/02 1:47:32 PM Reply	It depends on what the customer wants. If the customer has a Windows Client, your average Joe won't know that he can network up to Linux running SAMBA, Warpserver, etc and will ask for a Windows 2000 Server. But oh yeah, Case is not an idiot, that is why he is running a survey? *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,335 by Steve Lowe 5/29/02 2:02:07 PM Reply	Of course he's not But oh yeah, Case is not an idiot, that is why he is running a survey? It's called Market Research. Just about every company does it. Some better than others. How a product is named can have drastic effects on how well it does in the marketplace. Example: GM had a car called the Chevrolet Nova which was a pretty good selling car in the US. They tried to sell this car in Mexico, but it flopped. The reason? Nova means "no go" in Spanish. Marketing lore is filled with these tales. So is Case an idiot for doing market research? No. If I were in his shoes, I'd be doing the exact same thing. ----- Steve
Post #40,336 by orion 5/29/02 2:08:47 PM Reply	Nova - She doesn't run If my Spanish class that I half completed in High School taught me anything it means "She doesn't run" or something like that. If Case has his company running Linux servers and has no possibility of running a Windows Server, then why the survery at all? Makes no sense to me, just set up the Unix servers with Apache, Mozilla, Netscape, Gecko, etc and use the money that would have been used for market research to keep the cost of the servers down to be more competitive. *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,343 by Steve Lowe 5/29/02 2:47:17 PM Reply	Re: Nova - She doesn't run If my Spanish class that I half completed in High School taught me anything it means "She doesn't run" or something like that. Yeah, I was close enough :). Would you buy the new Honda Shinoruni? Would you buy a puke yellow one? How about if it had vinyl seats, no airconditioner, and looked like a Pinto? Market research tells Honda that a car of that configuration wouldn't sell, without going to the expense of producing it THEN finding out it won't sell. This saves the company buckets of cash and helps keeps the overall prices of their cars down. If Case has his company running Linux servers and has no possibility of running a Windows Server, then why the survery at all? Makes no sense to me, just set up the Unix servers with Apache, Mozilla, Netscape, Gecko, etc and use the money that would have been used for market research to keep the cost of the servers down to be more competitive. 1) What do you call this product? 2) What do you charge for this product? 3) How many people will buy it? What are their age groups? Where do they live? 4) To be more competitive than whom? 5) Should you even make this product? 6) How will this product be marketed and advertised? Without Market Research of some kind, you have no answers to these questions, and therefore cannot make sound business decisions. You can bet that every major product you use has had all of these things researched before it even hit the shelves, right down to the color of the label. You can also bet that AOL's competition here has done/is doing exactly the same thing. ----- Steve
Post #40,352 by altmann 5/29/02 3:19:13 PM Reply	This isn't about AOL's IT Dept and who would buy ... a product called "AOL Unix Server with Apache, Mozilla, Netscape, Gecko, etc"? It needs a name. Why not ask potential customers what name sounds good to them? -- Chris Altmann
Post #40,417 by orion 5/29/02 8:11:29 PM Reply	Phredd! The extra "D" makes it, evil, evil I tells ya! Plus makes it easier to copyright. I seem to have forgotten all about the Love Fest some people of this forum seem to have with AOL. *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,480 by altmann 5/30/02 2:47:34 AM Reply	NetCthulu A molded case shaped like a grotesque octopus head with cat5 cables splayed out from it like tentacles. Now that would be evil. -- Chris Altmann
Post #40,484 by Steve Lowe 5/30/02 3:01:11 AM Reply	Ubersoft Maybe Chris could use that... ----- Steve
Post #40,485 by altmann 5/30/02 3:06:59 AM Reply	Go For It. Didn't show up on Google. -- Chris Altmann
Post #40,505 by drewk 5/30/02 9:39:57 AM Reply	Time to move on I seem to have forgotten all about the Love Fest some people of this forum seem to have with AOL. Did AOL rape your sister or something? You seem to be completely unable to think clearly within a five mile radius of those three letters. I haven't seen anyone here say anything particularly flattering about AOL in this thread. All we've (me at least) been trying to point out to you -- and you've persisted in missing the point -- is that AOL seems to be looking into offering their customers an appliance that will let them hook up multiple computers within their home and share their own connection among their own computers. No one (except you) said anything about sharing connections with other users, ala Seti@Home. No one (except you) suggested anything that would be more of a security risk than users currently face. If anything, this could be configured as a remotely-updated (by AOL) firewall that might make users less vulnerable. AOL's typical customer base doesn't know you can already do this cheaper and better yourself. If you told most of them, they still wouldn't be able to do it themselves. All of this is what we've been able to infer from the type of questions they're asking. And none of this says anything about whether I or anyone else (except you) likes AOL or not. And all it is is a freaking market survey to see if anyone even wants the damn thing. So I suppose it's safe to say your answer is "no"? === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #40,615 by orion 5/30/02 6:57:54 PM Reply	My answer is no No, no, no, no, no! Nyet, Nine, Nil, Zilch, never! Not if AOL was the last ISP on the Internet. I see this new venture as another way AOL can strange its marketshare, and get more control over the Internet. Did I mention I had an Internet stalker that hid behind AOL, and AOL didn't do anything to stop him/her? This same stalker had spoofed me on Yahoo and sent me threats via YIM and the Yahoo Clubs. This stalker is still out there, using AOL, and jack sht was done to stop them. I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,339 by drewk 5/29/02 2:29:24 PM Reply	Who said anything about filesharing? It sounds like all they're talking about is internet connection sharing. Provide an applicance that's a combination (cable)modem and hub/router. They know some people are already doing this, and there's very little they can do about it. This is a way to sell it to people who can't set up their own proxy server, or don't want to deal with it. This appliance would most likely be Linux, and would probably send info back to AOL that a home-built solution wouldn't, but that's the tradeoff for letting them do the work for you. The market research is to find out: of the homes that have more than one computer, how many of them would be willing to pay the extra money each month to be able to surf from two or more of them at the same time? And how much would they be willing to pay for it? === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #40,367 by ben_tilly 5/29/02 4:10:09 PM Reply	For competent households, not bloody much Linksys already sells a perfectly adequate solution in that market for about $70. Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #40,392 by Steve Lowe 5/29/02 5:20:28 PM Reply	Yup As do Netgear, SMC, DLink, Compaq, 3Com, and a few others. Isn't competition nice? :-) ----- Steve
Post #40,437 by Andrew Grygus 5/29/02 9:54:53 PM Reply	Not so. You can't offer an internet site filtering service using a Linksys router. I know from talking to my clients who are parents this is extremely important to them, and they'll pay extra to get it. AOL already has filtering thorough their own service, and selling an automatically updated general Internet filter through their home server is going to be a big success. I'm sure they'll be able to sell many other proprietary "enhancements" through this thing as well. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #40,611 by ben_tilly 5/30/02 6:34:58 PM Reply	All that that shows... is that the consumer space is still immature enough that there are features you can provide to sell into it. But unless they implement those features, they shouldn't get much market share. (And Linksys would be better off trying to implement those features than trying to sell QoS at a premium to home users, but that is a different story.) Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman
Post #40,369 by SpiceWare 5/29/02 4:19:31 PM Reply	It's part of the "etc." They actually did mention "sharing files w/out using a floppy" during the survey, I didn't spell out everything they said in my post. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link\|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/\|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
Post #40,394 by drewk 5/29/02 5:24:25 PM Reply	Well, my point still stands They're looking at offering an appliance. The type of people who would be interested in such a product probably wouldn't care what was running on it so long as it worked. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #40,419 by orion 5/29/02 8:13:13 PM Reply	Filesharing and Aimster Didn't AOL try this out with Aimster once before? For Pete's Sake, just run a few Gnutella servers and contribute to the open source movement. *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,420 by orion 5/29/02 8:14:58 PM Reply	Connection Sharing? Whoa, totally different concept. But doesn't this sound a lot like a virus or trojan? Or even, gasp, the SETI program that uses your computing time to search for ETs? *I am free now, to choose my own destiny.*
Post #40,477 by Andrew Grygus 5/30/02 12:21:53 AM Reply	Which is why . . . . the server will say AOL on it. It won't say Linux, and it won't say Red Hat, it'll say AOL. AOL is a trusted consumer brand, and that's enough. The blurb may say, "Compatible with Windows and Macintosh PCs", but it still won't say Linux. If you know enough about computers to ask "What operating system does it run" (or care), you aren't in the AOL customer set anyway. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]

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