does anyone run without a control panel?

I'm hoping to run without the need for a control panel, hopefully to attract non-technical people, and I would do all system admin and setup, is this a good idea? or is a control panel essential?

It is essential in that it would enable customers to do some of your work ( adding email accounts, user accounts, setting an auto-responder when they go for vacation ) etc.

I think support costs would be very high without a cp - thereby leading to high prices for the customer.

If you're just doing file hosting then a cp isn't really necessary. But as ASPCode said, it's vital if you do virtual hosting, or something along those lines.

Originally posted by infinite

I'm hoping to run without the need for a control panel, hopefully to attract non-technical people
This would be the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve. Control panels were created for non-technical people. Server administration is only a small part of a control panel. Your user's will need an easy way to make changes to their domains, add email accounts, create/access their databases, etc.

-Dan