[Asterisk-Users] SIP Phones-Receptionist Setup

[Wayne Sheppard]

Tracy R Reed wrote:

>On Sat, Nov 20, 2004 at 06:55:56PM -0500, Noah Miller spake thusly:
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>>This does seem to be a common request, but I haven't seen any great 
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>Yes, it is. I am surprised * still can't do it.
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I'm not surprised. Asterisk is a PBX, not a key system or a hybrid 
system. The kind of functionality that is being described here is one or 
both of those 'other' beasts. Now I'm not saying that this wouldn't be 
nice, or even a long term requirement if you really want to open the 
entire SME market, but it's not typical PBX behavior.

In fact, if you start looking at *all* the differences in functionality, 
(i.e. call announce, hands free answer-back, hold/pickup scenarios, 
etc.) it *may* be easier to have a different product stream that is 
targeting this sort of thing. Of course that's easy to say, but hard to 
do given the number of developers that are actually working/contributing 
to * on a regular basis.

It's kind of like peeling an onion, where each 'little' feature 
(hardware and/or software based) drives one further from the notion of 
'PBX' and closer to the key system. In the end, it's a big divide, and 
would at the very least be a different 'mode' if you will, and probably 
a very different product.

This isn't unique to *, it's the battle that every PBX vendor fights at 
least internally with product management. How to be all things to all 
people and still have some level of control over the product development 
and support streams. I guess what I'm ultimately pointing to is the need 
to pre-qualify a prospect before one makes a sales proposal. If there 
are certain aspects of PBX vs. Key System that they can't metabolize, or 
aren't willing to make the user training investment, then sell them what 
they will can rather than try to pound a square peg into their round 
hole. Does this limit the market for *? Sure does. But hen no matter how 
bad a salesman wants to sell me a minivan, I'm just not interested.