05-19-2015, 12:54 AM
In the IT world we run into this problem all the time. We tell a customer that to install a computer in our data center it will cost them, lets say, $10K a year. They come back and tell me they can buy the same computer at Best Buy for $1800 and that this is outrageous. I tell them to go buy it at Best Buy, take it home, set it up in their bedroom closet and be happy with their 'great deal'. If they want us to put it in a temperature controlled secure facility, with 24 hour support, backups, disaster recovery failover, patching & maintenance, licensing, insurance, etc. it will cost $10K a year...