Addressing plan exercise for our IPv6 course

Sun Jul 25 06:56:53 UTC 2010

David Conrad wrote:
> On Jul 24, 2010, at 7:52 PM, Brandon Butterworth wrote:
>> Indeed, best not listen to vendors
> 
> As it is best not to listen to doctors that tell you if you continue chain smoking or eating 5000 calories a day, you'll likely regret it.
> 

Bad analogy. A doctor tells you these things for your well being. In 
fact, the doctor's advice, while meeting the goals of his oath, conflict 
with his business needs (your regret of not following his advice will be 
lots more doctor bills).

Vendors care about their bottom line. Some will happily lie for a sale. 
Most will highlight their strong points and gloss over their weaknesses. 
  More care goes to those who pay the most.

An engineer is closer to a doctor. The engineer cares about the health 
of their network and how well it performs, even if it means begging for 
more expensive gear from management. The engineer is less concerned with 
the bottom line and more concerned with doing things right (especially 
if it means less work, less headaches, and less problems for the same 
amount of pay).

I rant OT too much. :)

Jack