Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!svin02!eba!ebh.eb.ele.tue.nl!wjw
From: wjw@ebh.eb.ele.tue.nl (Willem Jan Withagen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: PSK Prices?!?!
Message-ID: <1206@eba.eb.ele.tue.nl>
Date: 10 Jun 91 10:43:59 GMT
References: <1991Jun6.214559.4887@quintro.uucp>
Sender: news@eb.ele.tue.nl (The News system)
Reply-To: wjw@eb.ele.tue.nl
Organization: Digital Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
Lines: 42

In article <1991Jun6.214559.4887@quintro.uucp>, bep@quintro.uucp (Bryan Province) writes:
=> I recently talked with my HP sales guy to inquire about getting either
=> PSK8 or PSK8X.  He told me that they used to be for free but now HP is
=> charging $98 each for them.  We have a current software and hardware
=> maintenance agreement with HP so we've become accustomed to getting
=> updates and patches for free.  I consider PSKs to be updates/bug
=> fixes.  

So would I. But them it is obvious that they think otherwise.

My guess is that it also depends on the support/sales-operation it self.
Here in Holland, things seem to be pretty relaxed. After some argueing
I've have got the following deal. (note that it's a sort of personal service)
With someone in the suport department.

I receive the patch-tape on regular basis, and for that purpose I've
mailed two tapes to the person giving me the service.
Every time a new patchtape gets released, we exhange tapes. I get the
patches, he gets a clean one.        
I on my side have promissed to supply the tape/patches to any Apollo-admin
in our University.
                
The cost of this:
	-	Stamps    
	- 	s Tape drives
	-	A (little) effort for writting a script to do the copy
	-	inserting and removeing the tapes.

The result:
	-	A VERY HAPPY customer.

This story as a contrast to all other nerd talk about headstrong 
sales-persons.

Regards, (and with thanx to my support-person)

Willem Jan
-- 
Eindhoven University of Technology   DomainName:  wjw@eb.ele.tue.nl    
Digital Systems Group, Room EH 10.10 
P.O. 513                             Tel: +31-40-473401
5600 MB Eindhoven                    The Netherlands