On 6/5/25 01:01, white-wolf wrote:
Hi,
Apparently, the era of the Minitel is truly over...
200€ for an acceptable machine, it's clear that given the price of VPS,
my idea is not profitable...
Another question, how can I offer a managed IT services for
individuals, more or less on a large scale? That is, adding programs,
updates, security, etc... and everything that the average user doesn't
know or doesn't want to do...
This way, the end user can focus on using their computer rather than
its maintenance and operation.
Best regards,
White-Wolf
I did computer and network service as a part-time business about 15~20
years go for small businesses and individuals, when hardware and
software had a higher cost relative to labor. From the customers' point
of view, why should they pay $500 and wait 2-3 days for me to pick-up,
fix, and re-deploy their ugly old PC, when they could go to Costco and
walk out the door with a sexy new PC at the same price today? (Of
course, the readers of this list know the answer.) From my point of
view, why should I burn up countless hours of my time fixing crumby old
Windows PC's for people who argue with me about paying for a fraction of
my time or about reimbursing me for enterprise software licenses I
sublet to them? It was not a viable business model then; I expect it is
even less so today.
I was told by other techs turned businessmen that the only way to
succeed was to go full-time, get a stack of Microsoft certificates, and
make customers sign long-term service agreements with up-front and
monthly payments.
David
