AT&T and Unix

[Mark J. Miller]

> 
> And, again, you miss the point of his posting.  Why does AT&T PLAY FAVORITES?
> Why do educational institutions -- repeat EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, which
> (with the exception of UC Berkeley) do NOT act as OEMs or VARs for Unix --
> get the source cheap, while small-machine Unix users don't?  While this
> was okay when Unix was a near-nothing, they should pay the same as anyone
> else does now -- meaning, either AT&T raises proces to universities,
> or it lowers prices to us.
> 
> Don't dodge his question, d*mn it.
> 

Simple. Universities produce computer programers, computer scientists and
computer managers. Some of these enter the real world and get in a position
to buy computers and computer operating systems. They know UNIX, they like
UNIX, and they're terrified of using anything else (I lasted 3 weeks on
VMS). It's not their money, so they have the company shell out $43,000. IBM
used to give Universities free computers for the exact same reason. It took
a Justice Dept. antitrust suit to stop them. 


-- 
Mark J. Miller
NIH/NCI/DCE/LEC
UUCP:	decvax!harpo!seismo!elsie!mark
Phone:	(301) 496-5688