Servers: Simpler is better
Few IT words generate more anxiety in the non-IT crowd than servers. Most people have a sense of what “server” means, but interestingly it means different things to different people. Invariably this term carries a lot of baggage, much of which is not necessarily correct. Some of the common assumptions are that it:
- needs to be managed by IT
- requires special hardware or operating system (like Windows Server x or Linux)
- has lots of associated components (like Apache or a SQL database)
- is challenging to install
- is costly to operate and maintain
- requires special training by end-users, perhaps because of a different interface
It’s easy to see why people might think that way, because for many vendors these assumptions are correct. The thing is, they don’t have to be. I believe vendors often argue that their complexity is necessary, but these are merely self serving excuses.
Normally, nothing could be further from the truth. If an installation is complex, then it’s clearly within the vendor’s power to improve it. They know exactly which components are required, and how they interact, so why not just “do it”? Similarly, with infrastructure a Windows Server machine is virtually indistinguishable from a Windows machine. Pretty well any software that runs on one will run on the other. Why force you to buy an unusual and expensive version of Windows when almost any version will do.
Imagine, if you will, that “server” wasn’t synonymous with “complex”. That a server could reside on any PC in your office, perhaps one sitting beside your desk, and require no more maintenance and training than for any other PC. This is exactly what Arbutus offers. No specialized hardware or software is required, and the server integrates seamlessly with the desktop, so there is nothing new to learn. You can consider the server like a “virtual auditor”, who sits in your office and does your bidding. It might be to run jobs at 2 AM, or perhaps to coordinate your scripts and table definitions, to ensure everyone in your group is current.
No complexity, no baggage, just results, what’s that worth to you?
Check out some of my other weekly posts at https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/0_1c4mnoBSwKJ9wfyxYP_FLh?trk=prof-sm