>V-R support my server even though it is 3rd party gear.  I see no reason
>to have support from V-R for the workstations.  The hardware supplier
>will be much better and cheaper at it.  Besides,  it's only the server
>you need to worry about.
>
>Having had Vision for 3 years,  all the support events were for software
>problems.  Not once did I need any hardware support.  That's the nature
>of modern machines and modern bloatware.
>
>Please heed that experience above.  If at the end of the day,  you think
>it is worth it to pay possibly double,  that's fine.
>
>Ahmad


We *have* had a significant number of hardware server problems over the
years, and I would have had to take several days off myself to sort the
problems out if RHI had not had the support contract for the hardware. These
problems sometimes also involved the software, and BOS (the file server
operating system) is a wierd operating system.

I myself support all our PC workstations myself, partly as a hobby/interest,
but also to save (considerable) costs. BUT it costs considerably in my
time - I have spent many hours sorting out problems with the workstations
(both software and hardware). I have (he said modestly) considerable skills
in maintaining PCs from both the hardware and software angle, and also some
in-depth knowledge of BOS.

So (and this applies equally to users of other systems) the balance is
between cost and your time if you wish to maintain your own PC
workstations - third party hardware suppliers will never give the same level
of support as your medical supplier IMHO and experience. For servers, there
can only be a few practices in the country which have both the in-house
computer skills *and* the time to sort them out in-house. A downed server
can often take hours to sort out - can you afford for the IT GP to take this
much time out from seeing patients? (although he/she might relish this break
from the customers....).

I think Ahmad has been very fortunate with his IT hardware if he has had so
few problems - I would expect something to go significantly wrong every 1-3
months in our practice, from past experience. On one day three weeks ago, we
started to get data read errors on our fileserver, our Links PC lost
important settings which had to be restored from a backup, our main admin PC
froze spectacularly, and the power supply of another PC workstation blew up.
Our tapestreamer then went on the blink. I didn't do any visits or admin
that day!

Laurie Miles
IT administrator in general practice, St Helens
(and sometimes a GP as well, with thanks to my long-suffering wife/GP
partner)



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