Fair Market Value

[Mark Bradley]

In article <8910252145.AA09555 at aero4.larc.nasa.gov>, blbates at AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS294 x42854") writes:
> 
>     We wouldn't have to buy 3rd party if SGI charge REASONABLE prices
> for options like disks and memory, instead of the 100% to 300%  over
> fair market value!
> --
Next time you get a chance, compare our pricing against the competitions'.
Then talk about fair market value.  When I have looked at other computer
vendors' prices, it seems that we have been sort of in the middle;  that
is, not as high as some, nor as low as others.  As far as workstations go,
it is probably safe to say that our performance is better than most if not
all in the area of disk I/O today, IMHO.

It is often difficult to understand why a computer vendor sells a disk for
more than you could buy one off-the-shelf.  It simply costs us money to
develop the s/w to run them, evaluate the h/w to select the best, work
on performance tuning, ensure the best quality we can provide, do the
burn-in, run the diagnostics, and so on.  That is, we have actually prov-
ided the tools to run the thing, gotten safety and FCC (and other) approvals
that are required by our government (and others).  Folks who sell off-the
shelf stuff don't have to do all this.  They don't add value, hence can't
honestly ask you to pay for that.  Hope that helps to understand the pricing.

On the other hand one can not help but want to save $ when possible....

					markb


--
Mark Bradley				"Faster, faster, until the thrill of
I/O Subsystems				 speed overcomes the fear of death."
Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
Mountain View, CA 94039-7311		     ---Hunter S. Thompson

********************************************************************************
* Disclaimer:  Anything I say is my opinion.  If someone else wants to use it, *
*             it will cost...						       *
********************************************************************************