On 5 Jun 99, at 17:03, John Sproule wrote:

> My inclination would be to go for a custom Celoron based system (400mhz)
> using either ....

  While this would probably provide most bang for the buck, that's probably
not the primary consideration for this application.  Few people use a
Peterbilt, a Jaguar XJS, or a McLaren F1 to go grocery shopping; these are
all excellent motor vehicles for what they do, but a poor fit to the job at
hand.  And all require a certain amount of specialized maintenance/support
that relatively fewer drivers can justify.

  Top priority has to be reliability.  In a lot of businesses, if you can't
bill your customers, you can't make any money.  Billing may be a s close to a
"mission-critical system" as many small businesses get.
  But every system has some likelihood of breaking some time.  So the second
priority is service.  While it could be an advantage to *you* if they have to
come to you to get the machine fixed, is this really the best choice for
them?  What if you're sick?  What if you're hit by a truck tomorrow?  What if
you can't get a replacement for the broken part in less than 72 hours?  What
if you narrow the problem down to two components, and each manufacturer
swears it's the other's fault?  In general, being able to go to a Dell or
Compaq or IBM means that they pay a little more up front not to have to worry
about these questions.

  Going to a name brand with good support is going to raise the price; this
can be offset a bit by buying reasonable/adequate performance rather than the
latestand greatest thing.  The latest and greatest always commands a premium
out of proportion to its actual performance, and technology that is 6-12
months old will provide almost as much performance for a fraction of the
price.  Billing is not, typically, a performance-critical application.


David G

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