I'm gonna throw in my 4 cents on this one. I can understand the frustration of writing a big check for OS support over the years on a stable system. Many of my clients that were native and converted to D3 reluctantly paid the first year's required OS support and sort of balked afterwards. It does appear like extortion and is only revenue producing for the VAR. I had a run-in recently with this on mvBase.
Unlike the majority of the participants on this forum, many of my clients can't even spell XML. They're happy chugging along selling their wares on their 15-40 user systems as they have for the last 20-30 years on pick. (honest). So for some reason either a hardware failure or a clear need for expansion, they upgrade to the keeper of the native flame, D3. Most still have a room full of Wyse-50's for their users, so the ODBC and other advanced features of today's OS are overkill. I've had 2 catastrophic hardware issues with 2 D3 clients of mine in the last 2 years and as such, I would put that money into hardware maintenance. One was a failed mirror disc system and the other was a failed motherboard. Replacing the hardware was pretty easy and their businesses rode the ripple with minimum downtime. Having contingency plans in affect is pretty advisable. I managed a 100 user microdata system from 1981 to 1994 and clearly recall paying $3,200 PER MONTH for hardware (8 printers, 92 crt's) and OS support. That was on a $235,000US system paid for in December 1984. And I do recall being able to negotiate that in half based on the lack of both hardware and OS support calls. I'm an expert on GFE's and their repair. At least the tech appeared monthly to vacuum the printers. Paying what some refer to as 'insurance' is, IMHO, a mis-guided analogy. You pay $400 per month for health insurance against a possible $40,000 hospital bill (actual mileage may vary). Paying $300 per month ($90 per year x 40 users) is hedging against a $5,000 hardware bill. The licenses are transferrable to the replacement system which could be turned around in a matter of hours. Don't bark up the tree of lost business. Most if not all of my clients aren't in the computer services business. They sell or manufacture ice cream, printing ink, soap, teflon, HVAC services and other mundane items. The VARS promote signing up for OS maint by having outrageous hourly rates (and minimums) for off-service support calls. My MvBase guy was even asked to pay an additional 100% penalty for back support to get current support. That's pretty pathetic. My examples may not apply to the larger, more modern systems. But considering the legacy of pick, there may be many recently ex-native systems in a similar situation. As far as upgrades are concerned, most ex-native clients will never need the upgrades past the initial current system purchase. If you need that upgrade in the future, those circumstances may justify the price. Perhaps the damage may be less than paying the price over the years. 6 years of savings versus triple the price is cost effective. One final note. One of my clients is still on a 1986 Microdata Spirit tower. He has 8 MB of memory (the max) and 400 MB of disc. He expands around 4 users every other year and is presently at 36. We built a replacement SYSTEM and set it aside 6 years ago as a hedge against the main system's failure. I'm the only one who complains about speed as I visit a D3 client on Monday and him on tuesday and then D3 on wednesday. In the big picture, he's way ahead of the money game both on OS and hardware maintenance. My 4 cents. P.S. Thanks but no thanks on suggestions to upgrade this guy. He's not stupid nor un-informed. For his factory and clericals, everything's just fine. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Walter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 3:26 PM Subject: [U2] Pro's/cons of keeping UV maint/support contract current (paid) > I have a customer running like a 15 or 20 user Universe/NT version 9.5.1.1D on > Win/NT4 server. > > It's a small company with a fairly complex, but a long ago completely debugged > custom application that has rarely been modified in the last few years. > > The president and the CFO of the company are now having a real hard time > confronting the idea of and writing a check to pay for annual UV maint/support > renewal. They call it an annual 'extortion fee' because they never have had any > need for or taken any advantage of support or upgrades from ibm except for one > upgrade some number of years back. > > So, they are asking me - do we have to/need to pay up????? > > If they don't pay up, they understand - no direct support from ibm and no 'free' > upgrades. > > BUT, if they want/need an upgrade in the future say to run on Windows 2003 > server or maybe even a Linux server what would the damage be WITHOUT a current > support contract in place? > > I've heard if you let the contract lapse, the cost is THREE times the original > quote to have it re-instated. > > If they wanted to purchase an upgrade to Universe would they then be forced to > purchase support/maint along with it? > > Bottom line is how would no support contract impact them financially if they > wanted/needed to upgrade UV version? > > I'm really not clear on all this. > > Any help appreciated. > > Joe Walter > ------- > u2-users mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/ ------- u2-users mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe please visit http://listserver.u2ug.org/
