Barry I worked for a software vendor in the '80s that sold a 3270 optimization product for CICS. There were a large number of customers that would buy a version, never pay maintenance and hardly ever have a problem until they finally (typically after more than 5 years) went to a version of CICS where the product exits would not work because of changes to CICS. Then they would buy the product again to get support for the new version. Not everyone pays maintenance and there are times when customers save money by not paying maintenance. It all depends upon the stability of the product.
Tom Moulder -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Schwarz, Barry A Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: IBM obsoleting mainframe hardware When my software license fees remain unchanged but the service reduces from right to use and obtain support to just right to use, I call that a cash cow, not a cash drain. I don't know anyone who expects a software vendor to support an old version indefinitely nor do I know any vendors who do. Hopefully, by the time a new version is ready to be shipped (not marketed), the old one is stable enough to be usable without support. And if it's not, why should I have any more confidence in the new version? No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.9.10/876 - Release Date: 6/28/2007 10:56 AM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
