Is the availability of Installatron a big selling point for someone looking to buy a dedicated server?

It really depends on your target market. If you are trying to attract the type of customer who might want to easily install their own scripts... but doesn't know how to do so themselve..

... then yes, something like installatron could be very good selling point.

In any case, you must make sure that that customer understands that he's getting a Fantastico equivalent (some would even argue it to be an "upgrade"), as Installatron is not equally recognizable as a brand. :)

That's true, but it IS a better product. Unless the server was meant to be used for hosting, I'm not sure people in the dedi market are interested in script installers. If they're buying a dedi and NOT using it for hosting, then they're probably doing most of the work on the command line or via ftp.

As for offering it, if you're marketing to web hosts, it's a good offering, but only if you can absorb the pricing or equal the pricing of buying it direct. I hate when a company charges you more for something that you can get cheaper from the source. For many things, it may be worth going through a middle man Iinstallation, configuriation, etc), but for script installers, it always turns me off when a provider sells them for more than what I can get them for from fantastico or installatron directly. If they were complicated pieces of software, then fine, but these are not.

Just my two cents.

Haha, looks like Steve is making some interrogations after I introduced you to Installatron huh? :P

We have installed it on all of our servers

I don't think it'd make a huge difference for the dedicated market.

Well you can offer it as a free addon if the dedicated server clients is ordering any hosting control panel. Otherwise I don't see a big selling point in this.

We use Installatron and currently only 3% of our hosting customers actually use it.

Getting Installatron as a free addon might appeal to someone looking to start off reselling from a single box but at the end of the day it's only a $5/month saving which you would most likely factor into the selling price of the server anyways! Nothing is for nothing!

How does installatron compare to fantastico? and how many customers do really use these tools?

Installatron is 500% better than fantastico. YOu can do so much more with it. Just check it out at installatron.com. They will also allow you to install on one domain for free without restrictions to test out.