Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!mephisto!mcnc!ecsgate!ecsvax!ruslan From: ruslan@uncecs.edu (Robin C. LaPasha) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga Education Ad: A Review. Summary: Wait JUST ONE MINUTE!! You're twisting the NC story. Message-ID: <1990Sep7.050915.4561@uncecs.edu> Date: 7 Sep 90 05:09:15 GMT References: <29633@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <14243@cbmvax.commodore.com> <1990Sep7.020416.2170@uncecs.edu> Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service Lines: 111 In article <1990Sep7.020416.2170@uncecs.edu>, urjlew@uncecs.edu (Rostyk Lewyckyj) writes: > > Well let me tell you about North Carolina :-| > And let's start from the most recent events that I know of proceding > back to ancient prehistory. > Each year companies and dealers bid for the states' business, to be > the supplier to the state for various kinds of items. In previous years > different C= dealers have managed to get on the state contract list, > thus making C= computers available for schools to purchase. This year > C= decided that they would do it themselves. Well they flubbed ! > As a result C= is not on state contract this year. Universities and > schools will therefore have a harder time purchasing C= equipment. > They will have to justify such purchases to the state purchasing > office, and in this very tight budget year ... Also the dealer who > has been a successful bidder before is left out in the cold, (but > not because another dealer outbid him). Well, Rostyk has left out the fact that - guess what? - Universities didn't have state purchase contract for Amigas last year either (where K-12 != postsecondary.) So it's not "harder" now. Besides, our peculiar state contract system means that if somebody HAS a state contract on a computer, departments can NOT go to a better- cheaper-more budget stretching deal elsewhere, but must buy from the dudes with the contract. > A little over a year ago C= hired Dr. John Harrison from the University > of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as its NEW DIRECTOR of EDUCATIONAL > (Marketing?). Well at EDUCOM last fall he was picking up guests from > their hotels IN A WHITE LIMO no less to take them to the C= hospitality > suite where behind closed doors they were being shown the C= AMIGA > "UNIX" system (at that time rumoured to be about $7000 talking price). > Well Dr. Harrison is back in the area working for GLAXO, and the > "UNIX" system is not out yet. Uh, Dr. Harrison got a good job offer back here. What does that have to do with anything, UNIX included? > Back in 85 when the A1000 was introduced and IBM and Apple were not > as deeply entrenched on our campus as they are now, our Campus > Bookstore tried to cut a deal with C=. But the State of North Carolina > requires that all state contracts be governed by the rules of The > State of North Carolina while C= was adamant that a contract with them > had to be governed by the rules of The State of Pennsylvania. As a > result there was no contract. For a while our bookstore subbed under > a contract that had been signed somehow with the bookstore at the > University of North Carolina at Charlotte NC. But that fell apart > quite quickly due to poor product support and I believe problems with > the contract with Charlotte. That little "deal" with Charlotte was undercutting a GOOD local dealer (with trustworthy repair service!) in a big way. It let the UNC bookstore - whose employees could not demo the machine, much less repair it - have a demo machine, but they never quite seemed to be able to get it in stock... but I digress. > I have asked again at our bookstore and our Micro Computer Support > Center about making the information about the Educational Program > available. The bookstore (since they would get nothing out of it) > won't do it. MSC hasn't done it, and probably won't. After all that's > another whole computer system they might have to provide support for. > They don't have the personnel budget for the extra staff. If they > provide the information, then by implication they recommend it as > an alternative, then by implication they are responsible for support. That's wholly untrue. MSC has not only been completely helpful, and WITH some Amiga-capable personnel as you well know, but they DO have the Educational Discount forms and other information, delivered by yours truly. The Comp Center "newsbrief" has advertised this fact - or don't you read your own department's publications, Rostyk? [blathering about campus support and dealer shelf space deleted] > Anyways getting back to sales programs and state contracts. > I wonder if this years C= effort again floundered on the issue of which > states' rules will govern the contract. I also wonder what if anything > C= will be doing about this situation. Well, Rostyk, how would you know whether there has yet BEEN a C= effort this year, much less say that it's floundered? > -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- > > By the way Sept. 27 and 28 there will be a "CompuFest" at the > University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The Triangle Amiga Users > group (TAU) will have a table set up to show of our chosen machine. > C= will not be officially represented. They did not have the scarce > resources $400. to get a vendor booth. C= has promised to help us out > with some loaner equipment. So come one and come all if you are in > the area. And if you are a developer or publisher and would like to > have us show off your productivity products. Perhaps we could arrange > it. Rostyk, where did you get that idea about C= not having the bucks for a vendor booth? Tain't so. They did have some trouble getting a local dealer interested. > ----------------------------------------------- > Reply-To: Rostyslaw Jarema Lewyckyj > urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP , urjlew@unc.bitnet > or urjlew@uncvm1.acs.unc.edu (ARPA,SURA,NSF etc. internet) > tel. (919)-962-6501 > Robin LaPasha TAU Board of Directors member UNC Graduate Student -- Robin LaPasha |Keeper of the Amiga ruslan@ecsvax.uncecs.edu |Hypermedia Mailing List