Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!cernvax!chx400!pan!jw
From: jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: OSF/Motif Support Policy (!?!?!)
Message-ID: <927@pan.UUCP>
Date: 9 Feb 90 21:52:35 GMT
Reply-To: jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson)
Organization: Adasoft AG, Solothurn, Switzerland
Lines: 53


I've just had a very surprising discussion with someone at the OSF Motif
Help Desk, concerning what is apparently a new policy on support for
Motif licensees, updates, and new releases.  I hope that I misunderstood
some of this, but I asked about it several times and was assured that
this is the new policy.  Here's the story.

I just got the Motif 1.0.A update tape.  Enclosed with the tape was a
letter, which said in part:

    You can obtain future updates to Motif 1.0 by purchasing a
    Software Support contract from OSF or by relicensing the
    technology.  Full source support is also available.

There is no other information in the letter about what services are
included in the support contract, or what the price is.  I called the
Motif Help Desk for more information.  What I was told was:

- There are two different support contracts.

  . "Technology", cost $1500/yr, includes updates only - no direct
    contact with anyone at OSF for bug reporting or fixes.

  . "Full Service", cost $2500/yr, includes updates *and* direct
    contact with people at OSF for bug reporting and fixes.

- The Motif bugs mailing list, which I believe has previously been
  available to anyone with a Motif license, will only by available
  to those with "Full Service" contracts.

- These contract only include updates to the particular release that
  you have licensed from OSF - that is currently 1.0; so they would
  include future equivalents to the 1.0.1 and 1.0.A updates, which
  I received *without* such a contract.  They do *NOT* include major
  new releases, such as the (rumored) upcoming 1.1 (V11R4 compatible)
  release.  Major new releases will have to be relicensed, at whatever
  the normal price is (i.e. $1000 if they don't raise the price).

I find this to be a very surprising policy.  First, the cost of these
support contracts relative to the original cost of the product seems
quite high to me.  Second, limiting membership on the bug mailing list
to those who have support contracts seems rather unreasonable.  Third,
and most important, charging such high fees and then *not* providing
major new releases seems absolutely ridiculous.

By the way, there was some discussion in this group a while ago about
the OSF actively discouraging people from reporting bugs and fixes to
Motif code here.  I wonder if that is related at all to this support
policy; perhaps they want to prevent people from helping each other
in a free forum such as this, to try to force them to pay for support
from OSF?

jw