OK, I'll admit it. I am a computer snob. If I don't think you know what you're talking about and you think you do, I can be somewhat rude about it. For instance:
A law firm for which I do some side work just took on a new attorney who has his own computer guy. This guy says he doesn't know much about computers and he's 100% correct. He doesn't know dick. How do I know that? Well, the computer guy spent over $1000 on a server (which he leased) when all he needed was an external hard drive, which runs about $120. And what makes me so sure that that's all he needs? Because he told me this morning that he's going to use the server unit as a storage device. This, my friends, pissed me off. Why? I'll tell you.
I've always worked under the premise that 'if you don't need it, don't buy it'. This, of course, does not apply to my personal life, but has always in business. I constantly try to save money by coming up with ways to reuse equipment, find cheaper equipment, or just do without, and it bugs the shit out of me when someone takes advantage of his employer. And in this case, I think the attorney is being taken advantage of because he doesn't need a server. Not at all.
I guess the other thing that irritates me is that the computer leased the server. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you don't lease servers. Why? Well, once you get something like this working, it's not easy to install a replacement, especially if this is the only server in your organization. In my opinion, it becomes too valuable a device to have to start worrying about shipping it back in a few years. Leasing regular workstations is a better option. they can be rotated through an organization more easily than a server. I don't recommend it because we're simply not outgrowing processors like we used to. PCs can go for several years without becoming obsolete simply because we can now shove a ton of RAM and hard disk space in them.
Anyway...I'm just irked that the attorney paid about 10 times more than he needed to and there's really nothing I can do about it. It's not my place to question him or his computer guy. Rest assured Dear Reader, that should I have the opportunity to express my feelings, I will do so. With gusto!
Promise me something, Dear Reader. If you're going to order equipment and you have no idea what you're doing, contact me. I'll help you any way I can. That way, I won't make fun of you when you order shit you don't need.
Thanks for the info. The attorney is clueless at best!!!
Posted at October 27, 2005 03:42 PM