AT&T applies the long silver Screw

[G. R. Emlin]

In article <5590 at seismo.UUCP> mo at seismo.UUCP (Mike O'Dell) writes:
> Well boys and girls, in case anyone out there doubted their motives
> for a moment, AT&T has just vividly shown their stripes.
> 
> I just got off the phone from calling the 800 number to order a copy
> of the latest BLTJ and I am hopping mad!!
> 
> $27.50 the want for the thing!!!!!!!!!!!!  I asked the person at
> "AT&T Commercial Sales" what happened to the reasonable price for
> reprints of BLTJ and the response was "the price was reasonable when
> it was being done by Bell Labs, and they aren't doing it any more."
> I think I would have pled the 5th Amendment before saying that.
> Moreover, I called the Circulation Group at Bell Labs and they curtly
> informed me I had to call the 800 number.  At which point I again
> asked about the outrageous price, and was told "Well, we aren't 
> in the giveaway business any more."
> 
> Compared to most other CS books printed, it is probably a good value
> for the dollars spent, but other issues of BTLJ don't cost that!
> Just the one they think everyone will want!!!!  To quote from the
> front of a recent issue, "Single copies of most issues of the Journal
> are available at $5 ($6) foreign,..."  While subscriptions to the
> Computing Science and Systems section is only $10 per year!!!!!!
> Subscriptions for the entire BLTJ are only $35 a year!!!
> 
> Well boys and girls, it is a cinch that Unix would have never
> become what it has (and AT&T would probably not have had a 
> post-divestiture product!)  if they had been this way in the
> beginning.  This is pretty shoddy treatment of the people who
> have worked to make it possible for AT&T to display such arrogance.
> 
> 	"Unix: from now on, consider it dead."
> 		-Mike O'Dell

There is no truth to the rumor that the authors of the UNIX* System special
issue of the AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal are planning to post
all of their articles to net.sources.

- GR