Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!dasys1!tbetz
From: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (TOM BETZ)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: New Support services from SCO
Summary: Mostly, I agree...
Message-ID: <9773@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 23 May 89 23:00:48 GMT
References: <3188@viscous.sco.COM> <350@ubbs-nh.MV.COM>
Reply-To: tbetz@dasys1.UUCP (TOM BETZ)
Organization: Greyston Business Services, Inc.
Lines: 70

Quoth noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel B. Del More  Nashua) in <350@ubbs-nh.MV.COM>:
|In article <3188@viscous.sco.COM> uunet!sco!rosso (Ross Oliver) writes:
|>SCO is now offering three new support services that I thought
|>would interest comp.unix.xenix readers.
|>
|>First is our SCO Online Support (SOS) Basic Service.  SOS is our
|>technical support BBS, which up until now, you had to have at least a
|>SoftCare II support contract to gain access.  SOS Basic Service
|>gives you read-only acess to all the technical information on the system,
|>including a database of over 800 problems and solutions for the majority
|>of our product line.  Also available are technical articles and tutorials
|>from our DiSCOver newsletter, product announcements, the SCO training
|>schedule, and product question and answer documents.  SOS Basic Service
|>is $95 per year.  Contact our Customer Service department at 1-800-626-4381,
|>or mail to uunet!sco!support for more information.
|
|$95.00 per year to read about what's what with SCO!  Come on  Ross,  now
|if  you  had  made it $95.00 year for SOFTCARE I and SOS then I might be
|interested.

Also, the BBS is written using LYRIX scripts, which means a) it's
slow b) it's clumsy c) it doesn't support file transfers, even
ASCII transfers... you can't even turn off the bloody More?
paging and capture long documents without sitting there and
pressing the spacebar every screenful.  PITA... and a waste of
time.  I called it a coupla times, and have since given up.
Advice to SCO - get some >real< BBS software.  If you want to
demonstrate LYRIX on-line, set up another number for that.
Better yet... get a copy of Magpie software (available from
MAGPIE HQ - 212-420-0527) which will let you maintain your Q&A
database, provide fulltext search on multiple keywords, and from
which you can shell out to run your on-line demos... and which
will even permit you to offer fixes on-line for Softcare II
patrons, like me.  Drop the Not Invented Here syndrome if you
expect a useful support BBS.

|Most companies would (and do) provide this type  of  support  for  their
|customers for free, especially when you consider what it costs to employ
|a "live" technician to handle technical support via telephone.

Damn straight.  There are DOS shareware products out there that
provide better free support than SCO does.

[I further endorse the rest of the posting, deleted for brevity
here ]

|>The second new service is our Developers Program, which includes special
|>technical support services, discounts on products and training,
|>listings of your products in our SCO XENIX System V Directory,
|>and other goodies.  Contact our Developer Relations department
|>at (408) 425-7222, or mail uunet!sco!devrel for more information.
|
|>The third new service is annonymous UUCP downloads of selected Support
|>Level Supplements.   <stuff deleted>
|
|Now no fees are mentioned in this paragraph so I assume that this  is  a
|free service.  CONGRATULATIONS SCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I for won would like to see some clarification on this from SCO.
It was not mentioned in DiSCOver, to my recollection...

Disclaimer: I haven't been on SOS in more than a month, as my
first two experiences there were so frustrating.  I hope things
have changed, I really do.

-- 
"Tell me, is this Heaven?"                          |  Tom Betz, 114 Woodworth 
                                   "No, it's Iowa." |  Yonkers, NY 10701-2509
                                                    |      (914) 375-1510
"Iowa... I could have >sworn< it was Heaven."       |    cmcl2!dasys1!tbetz