Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!uunet!xavax!alvitar
From: alvitar@xavax.com (Phillip Harbison)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Yet Another Upgrade Anecdote
Message-ID: <1990May9.141422.15056@xavax.com>
Date: 9 May 90 14:14:22 GMT
Sender: alvitar@xavax.com
Organization: Xavax
Lines: 54

***  Warning!  A megaflame about business ethics follows!     ***
***  Those who put profits before ethics should hit 'n' now.  ***

In article <1990May6.133250.18193@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Doug McDonald writes:
> In article <23254.26434102@ccavax.camb.com> merriman@ccavax.camb.com writes:
> > And then there was the infamous MicroVAX II RC (for restricted con-
> > figuration).  It sold cheap and was the same as any other MVII, except
> > the last four or five slots on the backplane were filled with epoxy!
>
> Why do companies do stupid things like this for? All it can do is generate
> ill will. I look at a crippled product and say "what the hell are they
> trying to pull?

I agree that this practice is appalling; however, I feel equal disdain
for companies that purposely limit the user's options at the design stage.
A good example would probably be the original Mac.  Here was a good idea
that was purposely crippled, due to limited expansion capability.  Just
to upgrade from 128K to 512K required a motherboard swap!

DEC is no stranger to this practice either.  DEC management felt they
were not getting enough of the add-on memory market, so they decided to
keep the VAXBI proprietary.  At their prices its no surprise that cus-
tomers were buying elsewhere.  DEC said they would license the VAXBI
interface chip to vendors who provided "complementary technology". 
Translation: anything DEC wasn't building.  DEC balked when Clearpoint
wanted to license chip and build add-on memory boards.  Clearpoint built
the boards anyway, and initiated a program whereby the customer shipped
in their DEC memory board, Clearpoint removed the chip and installed it
in a much larger memory board.  DEC even had the nerve to try to stop
this practice.  Last I heard, DEC field service also wouldn't touch a
customers machine unless they removed all third-party hardware.

The workstation vendors have apparently taken lessons from the big boys.
Just ask Sun, SGI, or HP what they charge for a 300 MB SCSI drive.  For
what they charge, you could probably buy 3 or 4 of the same drives from
a drive distributor.  At one time, Sun was charging $29,000 more for a
Sun 3 tower versus a Sun 3 desktop model.  I consider $29,000 too much
money to pay for a VME card cage and a larger power supply.  Of course
I'm sure we were paying for that designer look of the Sun 3 towers.  :-)

One thing I never plan to do is screw my customer.  I believe it is better
to make a fair, honest profit on the original purchase than try to low-ball
the price up front, then shaft the customer later.  My systems will allow
the users to add standard memory (SIMMs), standard drives (SCSI or IPI),
and standard bus peripherals (VME and NuBus).  If my customers buy add-on
gear from someone else, then I either need to adjust my price or get out
of that particular niche of the add-on business.  If I don't get any
business because my up-front price is fair, then I will migrate to some
other industry where a good business ethics are appreciated.

-- 
Live: Phil Harbison, Xavax, P.O. Box 7413, Huntsville, AL 35807
Uucp: alvitar@xavax.com
Bell: 205-539-1672, 205-880-8951