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From: kaiser@cheese.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: License Management Facility (LMF)
Message-ID: <10256@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Date: 13 Apr 90 10:59:20 GMT
Sender: newsdaemon@shlump.nac.dec.com
Organization: DEC Systems Consulting Group
Lines: 30


In article <0093516D.B9040540@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU>, sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug
Mohney) writes...
>How much labor does it take to hang
>a tape? You don't need a Ph.D or 3 hours to do it. Maybe a couple of bucks.
>It is a small cost compared to to the total value of the product...

Think of it not as the cost just of the product (in an increasingly competitive
marketplace) but as overall cost.  There are what, over 100 products on the VMS
Consolidated Distribution CDROM set?  Now for each product calculate the cost of

	-- the tape itself
	-- changing the tape (at "a couple of bucks") to make it
	-- changing the tape by the user (or the user's operator)
	-- watching the machine for when it's time to change the tape VS the
	   cost of idle time for the machine
	-- magnetic media that are erased or go bad through accident or
	   mishandling
	-- storing the tape (the cost of shelf space plus the cost of climate-
	   conditioning for magnetic media)
	-- the delicacy (and maintenance) of all tape drives
	-- etc. (I must have missed something)

Contrast that with stamping CDROMs containing the same information.  NOW how do
the costs come out?

---Pete

kaiser@cheese.enet.dec.com
+1 508 480 4345 (machine: +1 617 641 3450)