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From: jsloan@wright.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: unused gifts
Message-ID: <152@wright.EDU>
Date: Sat, 15-Aug-87 20:57:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: wright.152
Posted: Sat Aug 15 20:57:08 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Aug-87 21:38:56 EDT
References: <404@ndsuvax.UUCP>
Organization: Wright State University, Dayton OH, 45435
Lines: 34

in article <404@ndsuvax.UUCP>, ncmagel@ndsuvax.UUCP (ken magel) says:
> Posted: Wed Aug 12 07:47:25 1987
>      Since I was asked to produce examples, I will cite several that I have 
> seen, but will not mention the schools involved.
>  1.  I once visited a major University and was shown a room of about 25 SUN
> workstations which were just sitting there and had been sitting there for more
> than 2 months.
	:
(more examples of unused donated equipment)

Sorry I missed the earlier discussion. Sounds interesting. Part of the
problem we have with such gifts is the lack of talent and manpower to
make use of it. It is also true that many donations are ill advised in
the first place, and much donated equipment is unusable. We routinely
turn down donations of equipment much to the puzzlement of the donators
and our administration. In cases where it was politically expedient to
except the donation, we almost immediately "surplused" it: we have an
organization on campus which handles surplus and junked equipment.
This not as bad as it sounds, since we often get some $$$ from the sale
of the equipment.

Sometimes genuinely good equipment is offered, but if its not compatible
with our existing environment (ethernet, TCP/IP, UNIX, etc.) it costs us
more in salaries and benefits to pay someone to install it, learn to use
it, integrate it into our laboratories, help users, etc. and in the end
it would have been cheaper to buy another UNIX-TCP/IP box.

No such thing as a free lunch.

-- 
John Sloan  I'net: jsloan@CS.Wright.EDU UUCP: ...!cbosgd!wright!jsloan
Computer Science Department, Wright State University, Dayton OH, 45435        
+1 513 873 2491   belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.
The only thing that depreciates faster than a computer is fresh fruit.