A funny thing happened at AT&T's Usenix booth...

[J. P. Jenal]

As part of the continuing debate regarding AT&T's ability to market its
own Operating System in an intelligent manner, allow me to relate
the following anecdote and issue a plea...

I had been discussing several points with the good folks at UniSoft
when we got stuck on the issue of paying for a source code license -
that is, how much should such a thing cost an educational institution?
When pressed on the subject, the UniSoft rep suggested that I see what
AT&T was charging.  Being brave, if somewhat foolhardy, I decided to do
just that.

Upon striding up to the nearest man in a blue suit, a Mr. Vuksanovich to
be exact, I asked what AT&T was charging educational institutions for a
source code license.  He asked me what University I was with.  I
replied, somewhat proudly, that I was not with a College at all but
rather a High School.  "Well then," he harrumphed, "you don't qualify as
an educational institution!"

Imagine how surprised all of my A.P. kids are going to be.  When I
pressed him further, he suggested that since we weren't a degree
granting institution, AT&T wasn't interested in us.  (Odd, since two
weeks earlier the local AT&T rep had bought me breakfast to gather my
comments on the 3B2)  When I protested his (il)logic, he simply turned
away saying that no high school would be willing to pay the $800 anyway!

Not a terribly enlightened attitude.  After I had cooled down somewhat,
I returned to get this fellow's correct name so that I could pass his
comments on to others who might be interested.  In the process of so
doing, I spoke with his boss - who was at least willing to listen.
He suggested that I write a paper outlining my position on the subject
and this article is my first step in that direction.

I realize that most of you reading this are well removed from things of a
high school nature but I would like to elicit your responses.  I feel that
it is time to get more high schools in touch with better hardware and more
sophisticated software.  The Advanced Placement people are helping to
show how things *ought* to go - by making Pascal the language for the
A.P. test (as opposed to Basic - which is what is so often seen at this
level) as well as suggesting better systems, but they could use some support.  

High schools in general, and small schools in particular, are always
strapped for cash - larger corporations are always looking for ways to
lower their tax liabilities and find qualified people.  Why aren't these
needs being pulled together - by giving good students the chance to use
good equipment? 

Apple has made a stab at doing this - they donated a IIe to every
elementary and secondary school in California.   If they can do it,
why can't AT&T?  Or DEC?  Or IBM???  Let's get some equipment (and time
from concerned people as well) down at the level where it could fire
some imaginations - hell, most any high school would pay $800 for that.

Comments, suggestions and flames welcome.
-- 

Cheers...

	Jim Jenal		(aka ...!scgvaxd!mss!jpj)
	Mayfield Senior School	( "  ...!ihnp4!mss!jpj)