[THIN] Re: OT now how much will it cost
- From: "Timothy Mangan" <tmangan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 20:00:41 -0400
Pricing that counts Hyperthreaded processors as two processors on Windows
Server 2003 cannot be a glitch! Someone has to add code to make that
happen. Last year, when I wrote the HyperThreading white paper I predicted
that we would see someone come out with a pricing model that charged extra
for HT enabled processors on 2003.
Windows 2000 is a different story. The standard, "correctly written" code
did not envision HyperThreading, and the 2000 OS provided no method for an
application to determine if the 4 processors it reported were 4 physical
processors or 2 with HT. So licensing code charged for each logical
processor. Fortunately, I suppose, HT really stinks on the 2K OS so it
wasn't much of a problem (It is a kernel issue dealing with an idle logical
processor messing up it's pair. Fixed nicely on XP and 2003, but should be
HT disabled on 2000).
(Aside: Before I get shot as a vendor for the next paragraph, I will note
that on my server products, while they go to the trouble to report the
number of real and logical [HT] processors, we have a simple per server
pricing model. It's an add-on market, and while your customers end up
saving money with these add-ons - they have a pain point at which it is just
too much. Sure, the customer dropping this on 8-ways gets a heck of a
bargain from us, but they tend to have more 8-way servers than do the
majority of dual processor customers, so we make out OK anyway.)
In my opinion, pricing on a logical processor basis can be fair. It is
reasonable to charge more when the customer gets more value. There are a
ton of pricing models out there - per server, per logical or real CPU, per
user, and concurrent user (and even more models in the Software-as-a-service
world). This is just another. If Microsoft had decided that "per-logical
processor pricing" was the correct model in their mind, everyone would have
followed suit.
In the end you evaluate the pricing against the value the product provides,
and almost always against other vendors, and decide if it is worth it.
Tim Mangan
Founder, TMurgent Technologies
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Brian Madden
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 12:07 PM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: OT now how much will it cost
In defense of the software vendors (this is probably the only time you'll
ever hear me say that), I don't know of any vendor who /purposely/ charges
double when Hypertrheading is enabled. I think it's more of a technical
glitch as Bernd pointed out, and I would bet that if you talked to the
vendor they'd work something out.
Brian
Brian Madden
brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
+1.202.302.3657
Visit www.brianmadden.com for in-depth Citrix, Terminal Server, and
server-based computing news and analysis, white papers, downloadable videos,
and product reviews.
********************************************************
This week's sponsor - Neoware Thin Clients
Neoware makes computing open, secure, reliable,
affordable, manageable and obsolete-free.
Starting at $199!
http://www.neoware.com
**********************************************************
Useful Thin Client Computing Links are available at:
http://thin.net/links.cfm
***********************************************************
For Archives, to Unsubscribe, Subscribe or
set Digest or Vacation mode use the below link:
http://thin.net/citrixlist.cfm
Other related posts:
