Thanks, Jim. Since we are a small shop, we do not have the time, (nor the inclination) to deal with hardware other than to spec what we believe our app needs. Many of our sales come thru a local hardware/network vendor who takes care of that. If we sell a direct lead for our software, we spec and recommend hardware only.

When I started in this business 13 years ago, the common practice espoused by the "guru's" was to demand a full network server with a nos. And since our software work at that time was with larger clients, that was a given. But now we have developed POS and Inventory control apps for small businesses, we wanted to see if the NOS requirement was a myth.

I think for the very small (1-5) work station shops, that XP on a standalone machine with backup and a UPS works OK. But to be safe, we are recommending a small server with NOS as you recommended.

Thanks,

Ken




>
>Well, there's your problem looking on Dell's site <bg>.
>
>Actually even if it was $2,000-$3,000, I think I'd be looking to hookup with a leasing company to finance that type of situation. They could pay $50-$60 per month, which ought to be budgetable, with a 100% write-off.
>
>At the end of the lease turn around and buy the equipment if they want it or turn it in for all new equipment.
>
>Not only that, you could make a little profit off the server/software plus get 13%-16% from the lessor, which means you could offer to pay the first 6 months of the lease for them, (if you wanted).
>
>Of course I'd hold that out as an additonal incentive if they're balkish.
>
>For that matter, you could include the cost of your entire solution in the lease proposal. Most leasing companies have no problem with software being a large part of the overall cost.
>
>As for the cheaper solution, I'm running P2P at home with XP and I would think it would work in most situations, but I've never tried in a real world business situation.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim Eddins
>dbx-Technologies
>www.FoxToolbox.com