Well, I did run an HP-UX PA-RISC machine for about seven years after its service plan and warranty ran out with zero down time. You really couldn’t argue with the build quality, although the bronze age OS, high power draw, HVAC requirements and high cost were certainly something to moan about.
With Dell, though, you just run through a couple of hoops and get your on-site staff certified as Dell techs, then anything breaks you have replacement parts delivered by courier. No waiting for a service call and diagnosis &etc., it’s more like “Hey Dell ship me part #blah blah blah now” and “Yes sir, we’ll have you a fresh RAID controller delivered by a hairy guy on a Harley in an hour” (that actually happened).
