Mach from mt Xinu

[Robert W. Withrow]

I am so glad to learn that this group is frequented by such
inteligent, helpful, mature folks as series at well.sf.ca.us (Frank
Korzeniewski) who writes: ``If I ever run into you I will punch you in
the nose'', and chip at chinacat.Unicom.COM (Chip Rosenthal) who writes
``you don't understand jack shit'' and suggests that people like me
should ``extricate their heads from their anal cavities''.  I'm sure
you two will go far in the world with your delightful attitudes.

Of course, if you had taken the time to *read* what I wrote, instead
of gleefully spewing out your ad hominum brayings, you would have
noticed that I said: ``From what I understand of your
announcement...''.  When Frank says: ``I quote from the documentation
supplied with the commercial Mach product..''  he is providing
information from a source I don't have.  While I am not usually
interrest in collecting insults or threats, I genuinely like to get
information. 

So let me assume that Frank (who went to the effort to supply some
usefull information, as opposed to Chip, who merely pontificated his
opinions) just got carried away with his excitement:

>"Mt Xinu warrents to you (the original Licensee) that the Software will
>be in operable condition as described in the documentation, and that the
>diskettes upon which the Software is furnished will be free from defects
>in material and workmanship under normal use, for a period of ninety (90)
>days after delivery to you ("Warranty Period").  You must report all defects
>within the Warranty Period to be eligible for warranty service."

I'm glad to see that Mt Xinu does this; the SYSV vendors generally
don't give any real warrantee.  You didn't state what ``warranty
service'' is defined as, but apparently it is not the same as
``support'' since the two terms are used in different sections.  This
is not still totally satisfactory, since it does not deal with issues
like fitness-to-purpose.  Also, since software does not ``wear'', the
limitation to 90 days does not make any sense.  Nonetheless this beats
a blank...

Let me make a (hopefully) constructive suggestion to MtXinu that I
believe would not adversly affect their profit margin (and would, I
believe, actually enhance it by increasing sales):

Sell Mach (for the $1000 or $1500 or whatever) with an ``Unlimited
Money back Guarantee''.  Provide bug fixes (as *distinct* from
upgrades and enhancements) for free (perhaps by placing them on UUNET
or something).  Upgrade and enhance the product once or twice a year
for about $200-$300) and handle problems and questions without
requiring support contracts.

This stragegy limits your support costs because you can always pull
the plug and give a refund.  And you build an almost fanatical
customer loyalty because your customers know you stand behind your
product and will either make it work or will give them back their
money (``put it in writing'').  Additionally, this helps you build a
better product because your users will help you with your QC in a
co-operative atmosphere (e.g. ``Thank you for reporting that problem.
Let's get a fix for you.'') rather than a semi-adversarial one (``I'm
sorry, we can't help you unless you send us some more money to fix
software that was broken when you bought it from us.'').

Of course, there will always be the small percentage of bums who will
take undue advantage of the warantee, but experience shows that they
are a very small percentage, and that the advantages greatly outweigh
the drawbacks.
-- 
---
 Robert Withrow, R.W. Withrow Associates, Swampscott MA 01907 USA
 Tel: +1 617 598 4480, Fax: +1 617 598 4430, Net: witr at rwwa.COM