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From: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: net.bugs.uucp,net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: honeydanber uucp available
Message-ID: <12074@gatech.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Feb-85 15:44:24 EST
Article-I.D.: gatech.12074
Posted: Mon Feb 18 15:44:24 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Feb-85 02:12:41 EST
References: <616@masscomp.UUCP>
Reply-To: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford)
Distribution: net
Organization: The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech
Lines: 48
Xref: utcs net.bugs.uucp:411 net.unix-wizards:11403

In article <616@masscomp.UUCP> trb@masscomp.UUCP (Andy Tannenbaum) writes:
>To arms, to arms.

Damn right.

>Here are the basic fees (for the BNU package -- uucp + goodies):
>
>$5000	first CPU source license fee
>$1000	sublicense fee
>$250	per sublicensee binary fee
>
>Anyway, the prices are totally outlandish.  Let's say a fledgeling
>UNIX startup has 1000 machines running uucp in the field.  That's
>$250,000 we have to pay AT&T to upgrade our customer base.  It's
>really not practical for us to unbundle uucp, since a functional uucp
>already exists.  We can't support two differnet uucp's.
>

I called AT&T to find out what the story was for academic institutions.
I spoke to someone involved with educational licensing, Gertrude Williams.
She informed me that BNU is available to educational institutions for "only"
$1000 per machine.  Our System V source license FOR THE WHOLE CAMPUS was
only $800!!  

This isn't the first problem with AT&T and Unix that we've had.  As far
as I'm concerned, I wouldn't recommend that any academic institution
run System V unless they had no other choice at all.  We'll certainly
continue to run BSD on our Vaxen -- the pricing more than makes up for
any perceived deficiencies compared to System V.

>What to do?  Call the AT&T UNIX Software Info Hotline,
>(800) 828-UNIX (828-8649) and ask about BNU and tell your account rep
>that you want it but that the price is much too high.  Ask them what
>you can do about it.  Write them letters.  You don't have to be a
>purchasing agent for your company to call them, you can do it
>yourself.

If you're at an educational institution, you can call Gertrude
Williams, her number is (919) 279-6765.  Please DO NOT abuse the lady
-- she doesn't set policy, and she's tried to be as helpful as she
can.  She will relay comments to her management, however.  Maybe if
enough people call and register complaints, something will get done.  I
certainly hope so.
-- 
Gene "6 months and counting" Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:	Spaf @ GATech		ARPA:	Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA
uucp:	...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf