I love the fact they discuss hardware as a deployment strategy.
I considered the same thing at one point where I needed to suggest a bullet-proof way to run some Python code internally at a range of customer sites. A Raspberry Pi plugged into their network isn't a bad fix. The amount of time saved by pushing all configuration issues on to the internal IT department outweighs the hardware cost by a few significant digits.
I'm not sure the sheer cheapness of hardware has really sunk in yet. A lot of problems might be better solved by snail-mailing small computers to people.
appliances are still a big market for really large companies with money to spend.
it's kind of a dream for these kinds of clients; the only thing you're responsible for is "plugging" it in. the vendor owns everything else (and gives you access to very little of it!). this is also great for the vendor because they can sell what essentially amounts to a server that does all of the magic at a ridiculous markup without much regard to the quality of the software underneath (unfortunately)
i cracked open a vendor appliance a few years ago. it was very much like opening an abandoned closet that's been untouched for 50 years. not pretty.
I considered the same thing at one point where I needed to suggest a bullet-proof way to run some Python code internally at a range of customer sites. A Raspberry Pi plugged into their network isn't a bad fix. The amount of time saved by pushing all configuration issues on to the internal IT department outweighs the hardware cost by a few significant digits.
I'm not sure the sheer cheapness of hardware has really sunk in yet. A lot of problems might be better solved by snail-mailing small computers to people.