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OriginalGriff13-Nov-14 23:35
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Nagy Vilmos14-Nov-14 0:48
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Corporal Agarn14-Nov-14 0:34
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GeneralRe: I've got a good idea PinPopular
  Forogar  14-Nov-14 4:35
professional  Forogar  14-Nov-14 4:35 
Back in the good old days when we distributed our (expensive, leased with a maintenance agreement) software on floppy disks (it was taking up to 12 disks before we switched to the new-fangled CDs) we used to buy disks from a well known brand name and only occasionally got a failure ...which resulted in us having to send out a replacement set by expensive overnight mailing or personal delivery for more local clients. We got through a lot of disks as we patched and updated our software about every three months on average.

Our company accountant was shocked by the cost of these disks and decided to order us some no-name brand in bulk (she ordered five years supply at one go), cutting the cost by half. The incidence of failure went from 1 in 400 to 75 in 400 which meant that we basically had to send two copies of each disk set to make sure the client got one usable set - and then we still had to overnight replacement disks like crazy because of the high failure rate. The overall cost of the floppies tripled since the five-year supply was mostly used up in a single quarterly update! The mailing costs were huge, plus we had to spend the extra time duplicating the disks and were considering having to buy another duplicator and hiring an intern just to keep up. Instead, we took the remaining no-name disks and stored them in the accountants office, on the end of her desk, as a reminder - and went back to our usual supplier.

The whole "cost-saving" decision costs us thousands of dollars in wasted disks, wasted time, wasted mailings and untold costs in reputation as out clients were pi**ed off at their wasted time and the hassle and delays.

Anyone want to buy some floppy disks (no guarantee of actual function)?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.


modified 14-Nov-14 10:47am.

GeneralRe: I've got a good idea Pin
Mark_Wallace14-Nov-14 13:00
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Andreas Mertens14-Nov-14 2:57
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GeneralDarwin award candidate. PinPopular
Chris Quinn13-Nov-14 21:35
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Member 419459315-Nov-14 4:47
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GeneralSerious thoughts this time Pin
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Dominic Burford14-Nov-14 2:59
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