> This works with cereal and cars (and a lot of other consumables) because
> I can buy a Chevy if the Cadillac is too expensive (or even a used car
> if the new ones are too expensive) or Malt-O-Meal if the CFSB's are too
> expensive.  However, let's say I wanted to link our HP3000 in Ohio with
> the one in Texas to do disk mirroring and provide a hot site backup.
> How many choices of software do I have that will provide this
> functionality?  Three.  NetBase from Quest or SharePlex from HP (in
> reality the same product), or write it myself.  So, we either bite the

I just have to answer this one also -- Don't you think that if a vendor
could write a product such as this, sell it for less than the
competitors and sell enough of it that they can make a profit, that a
vendor would?  Except in industries that have extremely high costs of
capital (which s/w definitely doesn't fit), competitors are always
interested in entering these areas.  When you find a situation such as
this, the only rational explanation is that these two products provide
the value for the cost.  Otherwise, additional competitors will enter
the market.

LB