IC-RHCE-engineers was Re: [ic] Taking a Poll

[Ed LaFrance]

At 09:44 AM 04/19/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> >
> > So, if I wanted to hire a consultant for the same project Mike
> > helped me with four years ago, I would for certainly  only
> > choose people who have built larger malls, are certified IC engineers,
> > have a long-time .nix system admin experience and can prove they have
> > working experience in Perl (may be that should be proven too by a
> > test). (I just make that as an example, I don't look for any consultant)
>
>etc....
>
>This is all just regular business.  There is always someone down
>the street that says they will do it for less.  There are others
>who won't do it without a certain infrastructure, maybe Oracle, maybe
>not RedHat.  That's true in every business.  MaineStreet does not
>work by the hour, we won't install services on third party systems,
>and we would not take on a client who did not have an adequate
>infrastructure or the ability to maintain the system.  Those
>are business policies we set to maximize "fit" with our clients.
>
>Certifications help some.  They are best in a volume situation
>for commodity services.[1]
>
>Personally, I think the issue is moot.  The market for
>do-it-yourself commerce setups is about dead.  It's going to
>go cold the moment merchant banks start asking about firewalls
>and data integrity.  It's already hard for a do-it-yourselfer to
>compete with the likes of Yahoo! or zShops.  Those are only going
>to get better and the bar is going to go higher.
>
>cfm

This sounds like hyperbole to me, if by "do-it-yourself" you are referring 
to those who strike out on their own with a product like Interchange (yes, 
I know, there is no product like Interchange :-).  Big cookie-cutter shops 
like store.yahoo.com have their place, but they offer a highly restricted 
set of functions and really just stick to the basics - completely 
inadequate for a very large percentage of the *serious* players in the 
market.  My opinion is that they are good for those who wish to dabble in 
ecommerce or test-drive the online selling experience, or for sites who 
provide ecommerce to their customers as a secondary service, infrequently 
used, and do not have any special requirements whatsoever.  Of course they 
are getting better, but for the most part they are still 
"hamburger-hamburger-cheeseburger" and have a long way to go.

- Ed L.



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