Tuesday, September 23, 2008

HP ConfigureAIDER

In Australia, the land of the mostly overseas PM, we used to have two tools that helped a lot when we wanted to build custom HP configurations - HP Piper Configurator for laptops, desktops and workstations and HP ConfigureAIDER for building servers.

Now that HP has decided to replace their perfectly functional ConfigureAIDER tool with their totally and mindnumbingly useless and confusing configuration tool that is often a) offline, b) dysfunctional and c) simply too confusing to use, well, I wonder if they are trying to make IBM's sales targets for them and if they are receiving any kickbacks for the number of HP resellers who are seriously considering moving to IBM Servers.

Right now, Ingram Micro's and Dicker Data's Server Pre-Sales teams are being hit harder with "what do I need for this server" queries due to this tool being usable by the HP coders who wrote it and maybe the guy in there who approved it. No regular humans can use it and get a proper system build out of it.

Bring on increased sales for IBM is what they are saying, I think!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

7 comments:

Jason Jordan said...

Incredibly frustrating and poorly thought out decision from HP.

I've been using ConfigureAider for years and whilst it occassionally got things wrong it was miles ahead of the crap they're asking us to use now.

Hopefully HP is getting a lot of negative feedback about this.

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I agree the ConfigurAIDer was quick to use (both on- and off-line), however, SBW in Simple UI mode is pretty damn easy to use, and much more powerful. You will also find life a lot easier when you want to get a deal 'Eclipsed' (Competitive Discount), as you can just email your disti the excel file... :) Finally, if you get a chance, talk to someone from HP IT to see the back-end consolidation they have done - it's pretty impressive and gives you an understanding of the 'whys'...

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more. The HP ConfigureAider was such a great and easy to use tool, we would use is all the time for 'what-if' scenarios. Now we have to rely on Ingram and Dicker Data to come up with these quotes for us, the most recent one of which we've been waiting for for 8 days now and still haven't got it!

Bring back the ConfigureAider!

Anonymous said...

It has returned.
See www.hp.com.au/configureAIDER
Very good news though only has data for a few servers in it so far.

Hilton Travis said...

G'day Andrew,

Its return is only half-arsed right now. It is far from as useful as it once was, however this is a significant improvement over the rubbish they replaced it with.

HP 5500 toner said...

I can really say that you know what you're talking about with all this information here! Knowing all this sure does making use of this thingy actually a lot easier to use as oppose to just having it and not knowing where to even start with the thing! In regards to what you wrote, I place my trust in you since your authority stands out as the person who REALLY knows about this product! It's really great to have people really take time and educate us around the world about things like this, greatly appreciated bro

Hilton Travis said...

Toner,

I'm *far* from an authority on ConfigureAIDER, however I did used to use it when HP had it available and useful. Right now they have partially brought it back, but it doesn't contain all of their products like the original one did.

So, HP did listen to those of us who took the time to mention that they are shooting themselves in the foot by removing this tool and did bring it back, but it still needs some work to return to its former glory.

In the mean time, I'm looking at both IBM and Lenovo servers as well as HP Servers for our clients. If the vendors treat us like this, we can make ourselves heard by taking our business elsewhere as well as (obviously) by explaining to the vendors when they make stupid decisions that make our lives harder, therefore more costly, therefore more likely not to involve their products.