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From: rtp1@quads.uchicago.edu (raymond thomas pierrehumbert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: Re: HP Hype (new role for ADUS)
Message-ID: <1991May17.164339.665@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 17 May 91 16:43:39 GMT
References: <910427181103.2a79@CIM-VAX.HONEYWELL.COM> <980003@hpfcmgw.HP.COM>
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Chan Benson, of HP writes:
>Look at the bright side, you could have purchased an IBM 6000/550
>a month ago and then yesterday seen its value drop from $130,000
>to $52,500.

I wish Mr. Benson would keep his snide and irrelevant remarks to
himself.  I happen to own an IBM 730, and unlike the DN10k, it
performs as advertised, and also unlike HP/Apollo I have been
very well taken care of by IBM sales and technical support. I
am delighted that IBM has dropped the price on the 550, as it
now makes it possible for me to afford to buy more of them. Note
also that the price of an upgrade to a 550 from lower machines
has been dropped, making it even better for users.  Further,
owners of 550's who bought at the higher price do not have
an obsolete machine on their hands.  It is still eligible for
future upgrades in the same backplane, you can get nice third
party memory for it, and you can hook any disk in the world
to the thing.

Who ever complains about prices dropping?  Nobody expects a
computer system to be like a Rolls Royce and increase in
value (though I hear that Edsel's are starting to have quite
a market among collectors.  I think the DN10k is a good 
candidate for this category).  What I am complaining about
is the the DN10k is a dead end, and YOUR company failed
to deliver on the promises made for the machine when
I bought it.

So, Mr. Snide Benson, when are you going to drop the maintainence
costs on my 10k by 50% ?  When are you going to charge a fair
price for memory and disks?  What are you afraid of-- users
complaining about loss of value of their equipment.

Jeez, you guys really know how to keep up customer good will. As
far as I can see, HP wasn't interested in either Apollo hardware
or software technology when it bought Apollo.  It was only
interested in the Apollo customer base.  You seem to expect
Apollo users to junk their current equipment and buy 
HP stuff.

In this, I think you are HALF right.  I'll leave you to guess
which half.
.