Stephen,
Im not knocking them personally. I find it commendable that they plainly
state their return policy, which unfortunately many vendors like them do
not.
There are some 'macro' problems with these kind of vendors which makes it
very hard for them to compete against the likes of Dell, etc. For circuit
boards, the actual physical unit is a small fraction of the total cost of
'value' to the consumer (youve got R&D, support, etc.). So the
manufacturers have deals with the big guys where there is not so much of a
direct cost per unit for the various devices that go into ie. a laptop. So
this makes a full return policy feasible, there are few costs to Dell to
have the unit shipped back (the LCD screens do have a significant cost
however). For small vendors, especially Linux vendors, the hardware deals
are scarcely better than what you get at NewEgg, so refunding becomes a
costly procedure, hence %15 'restocking fee'. Until the hardware markets
become better developed and more friendly to alternative OSes, this class of
vendors will not be able to compete with likes of Dell. Things are moving,
mind you... so you only have good things to look forward to, but for now
companies like Zareason do not operate on the same cost parameters that Dell
does.
-jmz
On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:33 AM, Stephen P Rufle <
stephen.p.rufle@cox.net>wrote:
> I met the people behind zareason at lindependence in CA, and they are
> quality people for Linux. Ubuntu is their preferred distro and they seem
> to feed back into the community. I originally heard about them when I
> was looking for a someone to sell me a MythTV turnkey setup. Not sure if
> they still have that available, but they answered my questions quickly
> and honestly (I had asked if it was turn key enough that I could give to
> my wife and have her just use it the way she did with the Tivo. He told
> me no , which what I suspected).
>
> Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> > Buying from these small dealers can be a total nightmare. I took a
> look
> > at their return policy:
> >
> > "If you get it and decide that it's just too different from Windows or
> Mac
> > for your liking (or for any reason) feel free to return it within 30 days
> > for a refund. Note that there is a 15% restocking fee on all returns."
> >
> > -jmz
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 8:08 PM, Dan Lund <
> situationalawareness@gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> >> And on that road, I figure I'll share something I ran across in my
> >> google advertisements which caught my eye.
> >> A $299 Ubuntu computer...
> >> 2ghz cpu, 1gb ram, 160gb sata drive, nvidia 6100 video card, etc..
> >> figured I'd share.
> >> http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16183
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Dan Lund
> >> It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it
> >> to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to
> >> act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have
> >> free scope.
> >> -Niccolo Machiavelli
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 8:02 PM, Dan Lund
> >> <situationalawareness@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> OH wow, a totally different world for me, then...
> >>> Though it's a good thing they've gone down that road. I've learned
> >>> something new today, I feel smart :)
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> Dan Lund
> >>> It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it
> >>> to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to
> >>> act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have
> >>> free scope.
> >>> -Niccolo Machiavelli
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 6:10 PM, Ted Gould <ted@gould.cx> wrote:
> >>>> Dan Lund wrote:
> >>>>> Pretty much if RHEL does it, CentOS does it, so hardware
> compatibility
> >>>>> and service level is equal.
> >>>>> Okay, so Ubuntu sounds like it was started as a desktop distribution
> >>>>> geared towards eye candy. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it.
> >>>>>
> >>>> I would say it a little differently. Ubuntu is designed for consumer
> >>>> level users. It's goals are to be simple to install and configure --
> >>>> not something that requires a manual, but we try to keep a good one of
> >>>> those too. For instance, the Ubuntu installer doesn't ask if you want
> >>>> to install development packages. We assume that your Grandmother
> would
> >>>> be confused by the question and you can use the application installer.
> >>>>
> >>>> Some other Ubuntu core values are a predictable release cycle (every 6
> >>>> months) and significant community participation (vs. something like
> >> RHEL).
> >>>> --Ted
> >>>>
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> --
> Stephen P Rufle
> stephen.p.rufle@cox.net
> H1:480-626-8022
> H2:480-802-7173
> Yahoo IM: stephen_rufle
> AOL IM: stephen1rufle
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--
"Never take counsel of your fears." - Andrew Jackson
-
http://www.joshuazeidner.com/
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