greed and money (was OSF, etc.)

[rrr at naucse.UUCP]

mouse at mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) writes:

> DEC: And which OS do you want on that VAX?
> Cust: Whatever's cheapest; we're going to leave it in the box and run
>   <other-OS> anyway.
> 
> (Why won't DEC sell the things without an OS?  Seems like pure greed to
> me.  Sigh.  Or have they changed?)

True, very true, but how about this:
The other day I called AT&T about a Unix(TM) source license. The lady
that answered the phone said it would cost $65,000 but would have a
sells rep call me after lunch (it was 9:30 in the morning when I called.)
Later that afternoon I got a call from the sells rep and she said it would
cost me $77,000 for a Sys5v3 source license. My first thought was this
thing has gone up $12,000 dollars in just a few hours. If I want to get
it I better do it soon, by the end of the week it gonna cost a few million
buck :^) Then I ask what it would cost for something older, just enough
that I could get a BSD license. She said `Oh, your not suppose to do that.'

Robert R. Rose
Northern Arizona University, Box 15600
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
                    .....!ihnp4!arizona!naucse!rrr