Question about value of a source licence

[Geoff Kratz]

Our site is considering getting a source licence, but we need some good reasons
to justify the cost.

We currently have 2 Sun 3/160C's and a Sun 3/180.  We will be getting a
Sun 4/280, 2 Sun 3/60's and 2 Sun 386i/250's in the next few weeks.  However,
when Management found out the cost of a source licence (US$50,000) and
was told how "involved" the licencing is (one with Sun, one with AT&T) they
thought "forget it". (Even the Sun salesperson here suggested we not bother).

What I need to know (from sites that have source licencing) is this: was
the price of the source licence worth it?  I need to know if getting a
source licence will actually pay for itself (ie: we got one and made
$X millions :-) which paid for the licence in N months!) and any other
advantages that having source will bring us, both short-term and long-term.
Money for software-type stuff (things they cannot wrap their hands around) is
tight here, but if I can find enough good reasons, our Management may say
yes.

Please don't suggest dropping some of the new hardware, as we need all the
console and file-server power we can get (Management has come to the
realization that we can get more work done with multiple windows
than with plain terminals).

Since ours may not be the only site in this situation, it would
probably beneficial to followup here rather than mailing answers to me.
Any mail I get I will summarize.  Thanks in advance.
-- 
Geoff Kratz         Dataspan Technology Inc.         Ph:(403) 237-9313
                       400-540 5th Av SW               
                 Calgary Alberta Canada T2P 0M2      "Hey, no problem!"
...!{ubc-vision,mnetor}!alberta!calgary!dataspan!kratz