[Beowulf] Re: What vendors would you be sure to check out?

[Bill Rankin]

On Dec 30, 2005, at 4:10 PM, Dan Stromberg wrote:

>
> First of all, thanks much to all who responded!

Thanks for the list, Dan.  I appreciate your efforts.

One comment:
> - A recommendation against Dell, due to having only recently started
>   doing AMD, and due to frequently insisting on selling a microsoft
>   license with each box.  Also, they will sometimes send parts other
>   than what you requested, unless you specifically say you want no
>   substitutions.

This is very odd.  I have purchased about 500 systems from Dell over  
the last 2-1/2 years.  This has been a collection of Poweredge 1750s,  
2650, SC1425's and a lot of 5224/5324 GigE switches and racks.

1) I have never had a problem getting the MS license dropped from the  
order.  In fact, on their web-based server configuration page they  
specifically have a "No installed OS" selection available.

2) I have always received the systems that I have ordered w/o  
substitution.  Any errors in the orders were handled quickly by the  
Dell sales people.

As for the "AMD and Dell" part, did I miss something here?  While I  
suspect that Dell has been investigating AMD-based servers and  
probably has developed some prototypes in the back lab (as Michael  
Dell has hinted in past press releases), I was not aware of any  
offerings from Dell that use AMD processors.  Does someone have a URL  
to a press release?

-bill