Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!ucsd!ucsdhub!jack!crash!jeh
From: jeh@crash.cts.com (Jamie Hanrahan)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Who can verify the deal with MICROFICHE?
Message-ID: <3005@crash.cts.com>
Date: 23 May 88 22:35:39 GMT
References: <8805181953.AA26875@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: jeh@crash.CTS.COM (Jamie Hanrahan)
Organization: Simpact Associates, San Diego, CA
Lines: 39

(Original poster's DEC sales rep is brain-dead... er, is misinformed wrt 
license requirements for listings on microfiche, apparently believing that
poster must order the $25K magtape source kit to be eligible to buy the 
$500 fiche kit.) 

We have the listings on fiche, and certainly didn't pay $25K for the magtape
sources.  Our sales rep is Bridget Diehl.  619-292-1818, x657 (Pacific time).

Besides having your sales rep call our sales rep, there are a couple of other
things you could try.  One is to read to your sales rep the section on 
"Source Materials Options" at the end of the VAX/VMS Software Product 
Description.  Point out that there is no mention of any interdepndency 
between the "source license and source listings option" (which is the fiche)
and the "source license and sources distribution option" (which is the magtape),
though a dependency is clearly state between the "sources update distribution
option" (which are updates to the magtape) and the "source license and sources
distribution option".  Point out that if there WAS a dependency between the
fiche and the tape, it would be stated just as the one for the magtape update
is.  Demand that s/he show you where it says otherwise.  Demand that s/he put
the order through, and let somebody upstairs bounce it....

...failing all of that, you can try placing the order yourself through the
Digital Store.  You should also escalate your complaint:  Talk to your rep's 
boss, etc., until you get results.  

I will do something from the other end.  I have the name of the VMS Product
Manager who is involved with source kit issues, and can send mail via the
DECUS communication system (DCS).  I will ask that information be published
in the Sales Update (a DEC-internal publication) to clarify this issue.  From
what I've heard at DECUS and elsewhere, there are many, many sales reps around
who are confused about this.  It's important that they be set straight, because
DEC is currently examining the source kit issue.  It seems that it costs them
more than $500 to produce the fiche, partly because so few people order it.
They are looking at pricing issues, at alternate media (yes, we have asked
them repeatedly about listings on CD-ROM), etc.  If people are not ordering
fiche because their sales reps are telling them that it'll cost them $25,000,
this needs to be fixed, FAST.  

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Simpact Associates, San Diego, CA