Hi, I have yet to find a site that's using one of the big ticket automation products that could not replace all that they are doing with either one of the free versions of the automation products or in some cases if they need more capabilitites, the small-cost versions that I have (but only if they needed the extra capabilitites). My "cost" software is well below a single month cost of OPS/MVS or AF/Operator, and there are very few options that those products provide that I don't already support, but some that I provide that they don't, and the ones that I don't support are so esoteric that they are not very highly used. I'm not knocking those products, far from it, I'm only knocking the cost.
Converting from one high cost product to another high cost product makes very little sense to me. If you can replace what you're doing with free products, then I think it's a fantastic step forward. But if you're going to cut costs, saving a hundred or even a few hundred per month doesn't really do much toward that goal. Since you are going to have to convert your scripts, you might as well get as much out of the conversion as you can, cost-wise. I'm all for selling one of my products, but if you can get by with the free versions, then I still feel that it's a great boost for me. I really have a hard time justifying most of the costs that we have to pay for software now-adays. I can understand needing to recover development and support costs, but most of the software that is available is well beyond those costs at this point, and they seem to put less development into their products all the time. I shouldn't find that I have software that does the job just as well for 1% of their costs, but that's the way it is, unfortunately. Any way, if you need help getting started on your project, send me a note and I can help you get moving. I'm always interested in helping people get their software costs under control. One of the things I like to do when I go to a new site is identify all of the software that they are currently paying for (and don't use), and those that can be replaced with better products that are free (or close to it). I have collectively saved several millions (that's an "S" ont he end of that) of costs for them over just the past 5 years, and the largest percentage of that number is for software that they were not even using any more!!! It's very sad. Brian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
