Here's a reader with a simple question, but one that I think we'd all like to have answered. Why do manufacturers of computer equipment make their precious serial numbers so hard to find and to read?

"Whenever there is a problem with any piece of equipment, the first thing you need to know is the serial number. Now any good shop will keep a database of those number for easy access. But any good shop will also annually do an inventory to confirm that equipment is where it is supposed to be and confirm the serial number."

"Try to read most serial numbers once something is racked! Dell is very good - readable numbers from 3 feet away. Sun on the other hand must have a VP of Hiding Serial Numbers - they are diabolical! We need to be able to read those serial numbers, so why to the manufacturers make them so hard to read? As I have turned the corner on 50, my eyes are not what they were a few years ago. But this is ridiculous. If the serial number is so important to the manufacturer, then why can't it be easily read?"