maintaince contract

[Brent Baker]

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS ACCOUNT -- RESPOND TO: howie at jas1.uoregon.edu ***

Our maintenance contract is up for renewal, but we're a bit short on funds
this year and could use some reasonable advice on what parts of the contract
we should renew.  Our quote for the Basic Support Contract is the following:

	Personal IRIS 20Mhz, 8BP			900
	19"60Hz Tilt Swivel Color Monitor w/sys		  0
	Personal IRIS Graphics Upgrade			480
	150MB 1/4" SCSI Tape Drive			180
	380MB SCSI System Disk				300
	Tape Update Media Option-D			720
	Fortran 77 Compiler				180
	Network File System				180
	Software Development Package			780
							---
				    	    Sub-Total $3720
				Educational Discount -$1116
						Total $2604

We can get an additional 10% discount if we make an annual payment.  I was told
that whatever we do, we should make sure to buy the next software upgrade
because later attempts to upgrade will be much more expensive.  Supposedly,
third party software vendors (as well as Silicon Graphics) will use X 
windows in their new software with the result that those who don't upgrade 
will be holding the reins of a dead horse.  The guy who runs our electronics 
shop says that we probably don't need to buy maintenance on the system disk
because average repair costs are about $300. 

Are there any other reasonable suggestions that would save us a few dollars?

Thanks, in advance.
                                          Howie
                                          howie at jas1.uoregon.edu