Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps Subject: Re: prices Message-ID: <17396@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM> Date: 29 Apr 91 15:28:43 GMT References: <1991Apr20.210745.4915@athena.mit.edu> <1991Apr22.055054.7976@hawk.cs.ukans.edu> <110@eclectic.COM> <1991Apr25.174251.4967@colorado.edu> Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM Distribution: usa Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA Lines: 27 In article hoepfner@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patrick Hoepfner) writes: > At NASA we opened a blanket purchase agreement with several mail order >houses and a couple of local dealers so that when things are needed, the >scientists or engineers can get the software over night. I think that in >many cases it isn't even the cost. If you have to wait 3-4 months to get >an application (or even an upgrade to one) who is going to bother! Right on, it's the paperwork. Not only does paperwork cost absurd delays, but I'm all but certain that the actual cost of doing the paperwork, should anybody ever really measure it, typically exceeds the cost of the software itself. It's a cost-saving measure, you see, to make sure that we don't make unnecessary purchases.... Oh, yeah--disclaimer. Nothing I say should be construed as the opinion of my employer. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) I don't speak for my employer. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | When I was young, my family bought a color TV. Our neigbors, who | | were poorer, had only a black-and-white set. They bought a piece of | | cellophane, red on top, yellow in the middle, and blue on the bottom, | | and taped it over their screen, so they could claim that they had a | | color TV, too. | | Now there's Windows 3.0. | -------------------------------------------------------------------------