Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven!mimsy!dftsrv!amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov!xrtnt From: xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Fred Fish on CDROM....now being advertised Message-ID: <3387@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> Date: 12 Sep 90 14:19:21 GMT References: <455@hal.CSS.GOV> <1990Sep7.144544.17517@uncecs.edu> <12542@wehi.dn.mu.oz> <2072@nyx.UUCP> <12695@wehi.dn.mu.oz> Sender: news@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov Reply-To: xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov Distribution: comp Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD, USA Lines: 64 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 In article <12695@wehi.dn.mu.oz>, BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz writes... ^In article <2072@nyx.UUCP>, bscott@nyx.UUCP (Ben Scott) writes: ^> In article <12542@wehi.dn.mu.oz> BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz writes: ^>>As far as I am concerned, it seems that the price for the drive is so ^>>reasonable that the CD is being included as an incentive to buy, and not ^>>being sold for profit. I have no problems with this release. ^> ^> The key, in my understanding, to whether they could be considered to be ^> selling it for profit or not is whether it is available from them separately. ^> It is like the sweepstakes laws - you can't make someone buy anything to ^> enter a sweepstakes, so you always have to provide an address they can write ^> to or something which will get them the entry form without buying the whatever ^> it is. They may put it in microscopic print but it has to be there someplace. ^> Same deal with Xetec - they may not be advertising the availability of the ^> Fish disk separately (understandable considering the small number of Amiga ^> CD ROM systems out so far) but if they are not offering it separately at all ^> (for "reasonable cost of duplication" etc.) it is the same as selling it. ^> ^> Question: it is my understanding that these systems are sold "complete", ^> as in packaged with a SCSI interface. I don't suppose Xetec sells them ^> without an interface? ^ ^Hmmm. You have definately hit the nail on the head there. I suspect that to ^conform to my distibution conditions, that would have to be the case. ^Can someone post the Xetec address/email/snail/fax number? ^ ^May as well get the ball rolling. Hang in there folks, we're in for a ^rough ride, but were gonna all get a CD out of this:-) ^ ^Regards Alan Look guys...chill out. Not two months ago people were whining that there wasn't a Fish collection or a CD-Rom drive for a reasonable price. Now there is and still people are upset. Talking to xetec about purchasing a Fish CD sans drive the response was "We're trying to meet our drive orders...there wont be any spares for a while..." Worry about it then okay? In the interest of providing useful information (rather than just a mild flame ;-) the xetec number is (913) 827-0685. Also the comment that someone else made to the effect of charging for "cost of production" is interesting. I asked around and it seems that the ballpark for making a master (once you get the data in the right format) is $2000. Unit costs of course depend on number of disks produced. BTW: NSSDC (located at Goddard) has a CD collection that contains some of the more popular star catalogs. There are also collections of CD from indivdual projects that contain images (say Voyager or Viking etc) but I have no idea how to request those. The data (if releasable at all) is the governmental PD which I think the rules are that you may not resell the data unless you provide "value added" to it. I'd have to ask for sure. If any are very interested I can go ask for a address or phone number (meaning find someone willing to field any largish volume of requests). However I'd heard the normal volume is one or two disks per month sent out so swamping them may not produce great results ;-). NT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov | Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own.