Ultrix Self Maintenance Costs Doubled!

[news at bingvaxu.UUCP]

In article <31097 at felix.UUCP> karl at grebyn.COM (Karl A. Nyberg) writes:
>
>I just got the update for my annual software self-maintenance for Ultrix,
>and it went from $105 to $200/month.  Remeber, that's SELF-MAINTENANCE!

It is especially outrageous when one compares it to the cost of maintaining
a Sun.  We are strongly considering dropping maintenance altogether and
budgeting for a new license every year.  At $200 per month, the new license
and tape kit isconsiderably cheaper.  If the service provided were a bit
better...

When I installed 2.0, I discovered that we had a bad tape (this was AFTER my
system disk was destroyed, of course).  After several hours, I had 1.2 back
up, and it only took Digital 12, yes 12!!!!! days to get me a replacement
tape.  Apparently touring large ships at DecWorld was more important than
keeping a customer happy.

Of course, I am happy that I have now been informed that Digital now regards
Ultrix as an equal partner with VMS.  In fact, my local service engineer is
going to go to an Ultrix school in a few weeks.  Maybe when he gets back
he'll know how to log onto my machine.  What I don't understand, is why Ken
Olsen hasn't been informed of this new corporate policy.  (Or if he has, why
he insists on referring to Unix as snake oil.)


Fred Sullivan
Department of Mathematical Sciences
State University of New York at Binghamton
Binghamton, New York  13903
Email: sullivan at marge.math.binghamton.edu