Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ico!ism780c!darryl
From: darryl@ism780c.isc.com (Darryl Richman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386
Subject: Re: Unix for a 386.
Message-ID: <31898@ism780c.isc.com>
Date: 22 Aug 89 13:44:05 GMT
References: <1989Aug16.020438.5662@esegue.uucp> <7186@megatest.UUCP> <31830@ism780c.isc.com> <1792@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Reply-To: darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica CA
Lines: 47

In article <1792@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
"In article <31830@ism780c.isc.com> darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman) writes:
"| In article <7186@megatest.UUCP> palowoda@megatest.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) writes:
"| "  I really would like to express my displeasure to the marketing bozo's
"| "  who ever came up with this idea of 1-2 user versions of UNIX.
"| 
"| Talk to AT&T.  This is their idea.  We wouldn't have bothered with it
"| (I believe) if their lawyers hadn't decided to make us do it.  It's
"| their scheme and their implementation.
"
"  I doubt that AT&T "made you do it." You say they get a higher royalty
"for the unlimited version, why would they force you to offer a less
"expensive version?

AT&T offers two levels of licensing fees.  The cheaper one is for 1-2
users.  The more expensive one is for unlimited users.  We (ISC), and
everyone else, want to provide the product at the best price we can.
The license fee represents a fixed cost in the product, and must be
passed on to the buyer.  If we offer only an unlimited system, many
people who want a single user machine will buy a competitor's cheaper
product.  If we sell only a 1-2 user product, it won't be sufficient
for many people's needs, and they'll go elsewhere.  I reiterate--it's
AT&T's scheme, they made us do it, and, since we have a history of not
offering such a tiering, I believe that we would not have done it
otherwise.

"  As far as I know every vendor who offers the 2 user version also
"offers the unlimited. Why do people think that there is something wrong
"with having the option of buying something less expensive?

There is nothing wrong with offering a cheaper version.  AT&T believes
that their product is worth more when more people are using it.  They
have effectively made everyone who resells their product toe that
line.

It is a hassle for us and for the users, however.  I don't know if we
offer an upgrade path, but if we do, I'm sure we send out a whole new
system and ask you to do an upgrade installation, which will replace
most of your system files and require you to reconfigure the kernel to
your hardware.  *That* is a hassle.

		--Darryl Richman
-- 
Copyright (c) 1989 Darryl Richman    The views expressed are the author's alone
darryl@ism780c.isc.com 		      INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.-A Kodak Company
 "For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong."
	-- H. L. Mencken