mo@seismo.UUCP (Mike O'Dell) (11/26/84)
Well boys and girls, in case anyone out there doubted their motives for a moment, AT&T has just vividly shown their stripes. I just got off the phone from calling the 800 number to order a copy of the latest BLTJ and I am hopping mad!! $27.50 the want for the thing!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked the person at "AT&T Commercial Sales" what happened to the reasonable price for reprints of BLTJ and the response was "the price was reasonable when it was being done by Bell Labs, and they aren't doing it any more." I think I would have pled the 5th Amendment before saying that. Moreover, I called the Circulation Group at Bell Labs and they curtly informed me I had to call the 800 number. At which point I again asked about the outrageous price, and was told "Well, we aren't in the giveaway business any more." Compared to most other CS books printed, it is probably a good value for the dollars spent, but other issues of BTLJ don't cost that! Just the one they think everyone will want!!!! To quote from the front of a recent issue, "Single copies of most issues of the Journal are available at $5 ($6) foreign,..." While subscriptions to the Computing Science and Systems section is only $10 per year!!!!!! Subscriptions for the entire BLTJ are only $35 a year!!! Well boys and girls, it is a cinch that Unix would have never become what it has (and AT&T would probably not have had a post-divestiture product!) if they had been this way in the beginning. This is pretty shoddy treatment of the people who have worked to make it possible for AT&T to display such arrogance. "Unix: from now on, consider it dead." -Mike O'Dell
gre@cithep.UucP (G. R. Emlin) (11/29/84)
In article <5590@seismo.UUCP> mo@seismo.UUCP (Mike O'Dell) writes: > Well boys and girls, in case anyone out there doubted their motives > for a moment, AT&T has just vividly shown their stripes. > > I just got off the phone from calling the 800 number to order a copy > of the latest BLTJ and I am hopping mad!! > > $27.50 the want for the thing!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked the person at > "AT&T Commercial Sales" what happened to the reasonable price for > reprints of BLTJ and the response was "the price was reasonable when > it was being done by Bell Labs, and they aren't doing it any more." > I think I would have pled the 5th Amendment before saying that. > Moreover, I called the Circulation Group at Bell Labs and they curtly > informed me I had to call the 800 number. At which point I again > asked about the outrageous price, and was told "Well, we aren't > in the giveaway business any more." > > Compared to most other CS books printed, it is probably a good value > for the dollars spent, but other issues of BTLJ don't cost that! > Just the one they think everyone will want!!!! To quote from the > front of a recent issue, "Single copies of most issues of the Journal > are available at $5 ($6) foreign,..." While subscriptions to the > Computing Science and Systems section is only $10 per year!!!!!! > Subscriptions for the entire BLTJ are only $35 a year!!! > > Well boys and girls, it is a cinch that Unix would have never > become what it has (and AT&T would probably not have had a > post-divestiture product!) if they had been this way in the > beginning. This is pretty shoddy treatment of the people who > have worked to make it possible for AT&T to display such arrogance. > > "Unix: from now on, consider it dead." > -Mike O'Dell There is no truth to the rumor that the authors of the UNIX* System special issue of the AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal are planning to post all of their articles to net.sources. - GR