And less printer makes a good deal seem...

This pilot fish is support manager at a small software company, and part of his job is overseeing hardware requirements for the company's specialized products.

"Because of the unique type of software our engineers create, printers and memory are the two most taxing on our customer base," fish says. "To paraphrase our CTO, 'More RAM makes a bad product seem good!' What the heck does that mean?"

So when the installation manager tells fish that a big customer has a hardware problem, fish checks out the situation. Sure enough, the customer is using an approved printer: a low-end $100 printer that's intended for light use.

But at the large company, it's getting a steady stream of print jobs. Not surprisingly, it's failing because it's exceeding the monthly recommended output.

Ordinarily, fish would just recommend that the customer buy a high-end printer. But this customer was sold a "turnkey" package -- one that includes everything the customer will need, including the printer. That makes it the problem of fish's company.

"In a presales meeting, I argued that we were a software company and should only offer hardware when absolutely necessary and, moreover, not deliver equipment that would only fail under too much use," says fish.

"The installation manager's response to the failing printers? 'I need a $100 printer that will do the work of a $1,500 printer. Can you stop whining and get on the phone and arrange that?'

"I'm still on it."

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