rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Ruth Milner) (11/21/90)
The following might be of interest to a number of Sun's customers.
Back in July, we put in an order for 10 Fortran manuals. We were given a
part number, which at that time was for 1.1, and a cost of $100 discounted
to $60 with our NSF discount. By the time various screwups were sorted out
and the order finally got through, they were out of them. We received one
copy and the rest were put on backorder.
A week ago we were notified that that particular manual had been replaced
with the latest version, for Fortran 1.3. However the cost has changed.
The new price for Fortran manuals is now ***$300*** each!!! Not only that,
but it is now a non-discountable item, so the end cost to us is **five
times** what we were originally told. And despite having Fortran media
*and* documentation on maintenance, we did not receive a new manual with
the new tape (but that's another story).
I would like to hear from Sun how they justify charging $300 for a single
programming language manual, when the cost of the entire SunOS
documentation set is (according to the July 25/90 price list) $600,
discountable by our usual 40%, i.e. $360 to us. I can get 10 times as much
paper for only 20% more money. In binders to boot.
Not only that, but how do you justify such an enormous increase in the
price to begin with? Fine, so the manual was rewritten. Fine, so it may be
more useful (I have yet to see this for myself) and/or it may be longer.
Tripling the cost is just a tad excessive unless it is three times longer
or three times better (and the latter is so subjective it's virtually
impossible to measure). Is it?
All I can say is, we sure as hell won't be ordering 10 of them.
Ruth Milner
Systems Manager NRAO/VLA Socorro NM
rmilner@zia.aoc.nrao.edu