Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari!aplcen!uunet!ssbell!mcmi!unocss!mlewis From: mlewis@unocss..unl.edu (Local Submission) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: open this package and you're stuck with it Message-ID: <2202@unocss..unl.edu> Date: 24 Feb 90 23:55:38 GMT References: <4od8jdu@unify.uucp> Distribution: usa Organization: U. of Nebraska at Omaha Lines: 24 Don't need no stinking attributions. Some time ago I was the system manager for the administrative computer at this university, and we decided to standardise our spreadsheet offerings among the various minis and micros to 20/20, which is an OUTSTANDING product. However, they were pretty new at the time, and there was a glitch in their distribution: In the summer of 1985, 60 days after their first major shipments (or so) every copy of 2020 in the world died. They had distributed "demo copies" out, all with an expiration date in them. As it happened, I was out of town when it happened. Some time later, I had a chance to "test" WordPerfect on another computer of the same variety (Data General), which had a 60-day expiration in it. It lasted almost 80 days. Somebody else put it very succintly: for business machines, you CAN'T muck with the system date. If no other reason, the auditors get mightliy perturbed. Marc -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Na khuya mne ehto gavno? | Internet: cs057@zeus.unl.edu preferred machine->| UUCP: uunet!btni!unocss!mlewis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------