Anyone Have Work Advice for Me?

[DiscGo]

As most of you guys know I do IT for a living. I use and love DD-WRT for routers (it is a linux based firmware which turns your 50 dollar router into a $500 firewall).

I suggested we buy an extra 20 routers for inventory to which we could DD-WRT. My boss doesn't like the idea of buying something cheap (like a Linksys router) for our customers and is much more comfortable with Cisco Aironets. My boss found a medium grade business router which offers many of the features of the DD-WRT routers and wants my opinion on the matter.

I personally prefer the cheaper routers with the linux firmware than the more expensive Cisco routers. I am likely to be alone in my belief here at work and I have concerns of losing credibility by being okay with this over the more expensive, name branded routers.

What should I do?

[DiscGo]

And yes I know Cisco owns Linksys.

[accadacca]

[Deathcricket]

I would advise spelling "advise" as advice.

[DiscGo]

I would advise spelling "advise" as advice.

Oops. Take that DevoStevo! I once again reclaim my own title of being the worst speller on Bogley.

[Iceaxe]

As a client I hate it when the IT guys start doing wierd crap with my routers that only they understand..... I'd go with the standard system the way everyone else in the world does it.

Because what really happens is 5 years down the road I have new IT guys and no one can understand how the system was originally duct taped together and I end up paying more in the long run....

[devo_stevo]

And the hits just keep on coming. Jeeze man, it's not like you spelled it wrong. It's more of a grammar problem. Therefore, nothing has been reinforced.

Of course this comes from the guy trying to keep his credibility at work. Good luck with that. Just don't send any silly instant messages about your boss around the office this time. That should go a long way toward you being a cool guy at work. Just sayin'

So take that mr. baddest speller on Bogley!

[Alex]

I am with Iceaxe here, it's better be safe than sorry in IT.

[Sombeech]

Because what really happens is 5 years down the road I have new IT guys

You mean your IT guys have at least 5 years of job security?

[theking648]

DD-WRT FTW!!

ok if your IT guy doesn't know what DD-WRT is then you should fire him and hire me instead.

[greyhair biker]

You should become a Bogley upper management/partner. I hear they make killer $$ and hardly ever have any problems with their systems. And the PERKS...WOW!

[BruteForce]

As a CTO, and somebody who's been in IT for over 15 years, the safe play is to always go with a known brand name -- especially when it's something that you'll be handing off to somebody else.

While some ideas may have more merit from a technical perspective, the best and most prudent play is to go with something that is easily supported by EVERYONE (and not just you).

Ever hear the phrase: "Nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft (or Cisco / insert your BIG brand name here)" ?

[erial]

So what ever happened to the driver of the truck who ran over the man in Orem. Was he charged?

[ststephen]

I suggest writing a short clear and unbiased analysis of the trade-offs and let him know why you personally prefer one choice but that you also understand the benefits of the other choice. Think about the full cost to the business over the years.

I'm on the s/w engineering vs. IT side of things. At my work we usually choose the open-source approach vs. big-name s/w. For example, MySQL over Oracle. Tomcat over Weblogic. But we have a huge s/w dev organization to stand by our systems.

That said, in our data centers it's all big-name routers and firewalls and load balancers.

[DiscGo]

Thanks everyone. I have decided to tell him what he wants to hear but clarify a couple of situations for which I would still recommend DD-WRT over the Cisco router.


[quote="erial"]So what ever happened to the driver of the truck who ran over the man in Orem. Was he charged?[/quote

No, he wasn't but his family and the police were fully aware of the actual situation.
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/loca...41796a698.html

[DaveOU812]

Good choice. I wish I would have gotten here sooner so I could sound all smart and stuff.

While I personally think the DD-WRT is better, everyone knows Cisco. You may move on to run Microsoft in 5 years and the new guy wont know what he's doing. From the boss' stand point, more practical to go with the better known system.