Network device command line interfaces

Doug Barton dougb at dougbarton.us
Thu Nov 24 21:06:27 UTC 2011


On 11/24/2011 11:58, Jonathon Exley wrote:
> That's the problem - as a propellorhead I don't make the purchasing decisions. I can recommend products but low cost speaks more loudly than "this gear is a dog to work with". 

That's where you get a chance to impress the business folks by using
terms like "total cost of ownership." You make the case that while
product X may have a higher capex, that's a one-time expense that can be
amortized and/or depreciated. Whereas the opex for product Y is going to
be higher for the life of the thing. Make sure to tart up your estimate
by including the developer costs of the tools you will need to verify
that changes are correct and/or disaster recovery because everyone is
human, and the horrible UI magnifies the likelihood of an "innocent"
fat-finger mistake turning into a complete meltdown (or worse, a
security hole that no one sees until it's too late).

Of course I'm just throwing stuff against the wall here since I don't
know exactly what tools you're talking about, but if your PHBs have any
clue at all they will understand your point if you can put it into their
language. Look at it this way. Think of how hard you have to fight the
urge to wince in pain when one of your PHBs start describing the wonders
of some new technological marvel ... "We simply must have this new
widget I read about in AAdvantage magazine." That's exactly how they
feel most of the time when we try to talk to them about why product Y is
"better" even though it's more expensive.


hth,

Doug

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