lawitzke@eecae.UUCP (John Lawitzke) (09/03/87)
I've been wondering, why is MINIX available mail order from PH only? Why wasn't it distributed and sold at computer stores? Even if it was available at stores in large cities, most everyone that wants it is within a two hour drive of a sizeable town and would be willing to make the drive to get it. Considering most programmers I know are like me and when they decide to use a piece of software, they get an itch for it and want it as fast as possible and six weeks+ is a long to have an itch. -- John H. Lawitzke UUCP: ...ihnp4!msudoc!eecae!lawitzke Division of Engineering Research ARPA: lawitzke@eecae.ee.msu.edu (35.8.8.151) Michigan State University Office: (517) 355-3769 E. Lansing, MI, 48824
gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (09/05/87)
lawitzke@eecae.UUCP (John Lawitzke) wrote: > I've been wondering, why is MINIX available mail order from PH only? > Why wasn't it distributed and sold at computer stores? A friend of mine runs a computer store (actually, a computer book store). He tried to get the Minix disks from Prentice-Hall. They would not give him any discount from list price, so he couldn't afford to sell the disks. (Normally items bought in quantity are discounted so the retailer can make money selling them at list price.) I don't know whether P-H or Andy made this "no discounts" decision, but that's why you have to suffer with lousy P-H mail order service, and why you won't find your local computer store supporting Minix. -- {dasys1,ncoast,well,sun,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@postgres.berkeley.edu My name's in the header where it belongs.
tweten@ames-prandtl.arpa (Dave Tweten) (09/05/87)
From: John Gilmore <hoptoad!gnu> lawitzke@eecae.UUCP (John Lawitzke) wrote: > I've been wondering, why is MINIX available mail order from PH only? > Why wasn't it distributed and sold at computer stores? A friend of mine runs a computer store (actually, a computer book store). He tried to get the Minix disks from Prentice-Hall. They would not give him any discount from list price, so he couldn't afford to sell the disks. Gee, that's strange. I GOT my copy of the MINIX disks from the Computer Literacy Book Store in Sunnyvale, CA. The last time I was by there, in addition to The Book, they also displayed The Tape, and The Disks. It took them a long time to get initial stock (I thought ordering through them would be faster than ordering through PH, foolish me), but now, it all seems to be available from stock. I paid list to Computer Lit. So what else is new? They're not great discounters. Since they're not in it for their health, I assume they pay PH less. You might run this by your "friend".
kchen@imagen.UUCP (Kok Chen) (09/06/87)
in article <2885@hoptoad.uucp>, gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) says: > A friend of mine runs a computer store (actually, a computer book store). > He tried to get the Minix disks from Prentice-Hall. They would not give > him any discount from list price, so he couldn't afford to sell the disks. I bought my copy of Minix 1.1 from the Computer Literacy bookstore (there are three stores in the Sunnyvale/Santa Clara/San Jose (Ca.) area) at list price (a couple of pennies below $80). I haven't checked the price since and it may indeed have gone up, if John Gilmore is right. They also support mail order. I have had books shipped to a friend out of state. (For those not in this area, try calling directory information for the 408 area-code for their phone number.) They will ship UPS Blue if you are willing to pay for it, for you impatient ones. :-) By the way, I noticed in one of their new-books listings that the Minix 1.2 diskettes are listed at something like $120. Is the list price for Minix 1.2 diskettes more than Minix 1.1?? What gives? If this is P-H's doing, isn't this fast deviating from AST's original aspirations of providing an affordable learning platform for students? Not a problem for net-folks, nor the professionals who are using Minix as a techie toy, since we can snarf AST's 1.2 updates off of the net. But ... --- Disclaimer: I have no connection with Computer Literacy except for approaching bankruptcy each time I visit the bookstore (I have an addiction to technical books :-), and being grateful they exist to serve this area. --- Kok S. Chen ..!decwrl!imagen!kchen Imagen Corporation
billa@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Anderson) (09/07/87)
In article <2183@eecae.UUCP>, lawitzke@eecae.UUCP (John Lawitzke) writes: > I've been wondering, why is MINIX available mail order from PH only? . . > six weeks+ is a long to have an itch. > I agree, six weeks is a long time. However when I ordered I "phoned first" and found out that for another 6 bucks I would get overnight Fed Express. To me it was worth it. Now, MS-DOS 3.2. I tried doing dosread/write with this version of DOS and it failed. I think the MS block size has changed. What's more, when I went back to reformat the disks to MS-DOS 3.1 track 0 was fried!! I have not started pursuing a solution yet, but I wanted to see if anyone else had run into this yet. Bill Anderson ...ihnp4!ihlpl!billa
cwr@pnet01.cts.com (Will Rose) (02/18/90)
In a recent message, ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: >In article <1500@crash.cts.com> cwr@pnet01.cts.com (Will Rose) writes: >>Certainly $120 for a program with no development cost (subsumed into the >>original textbook cost), no support cost (apart from printing ast's email >>address), and no maintenance cost (partly free from the net, and partly >>subsumed into the cost of ast's next edition) is good business. My guess >>is that 1.6 and later will allow no copying > ..... Version 2.0 and beyond will have the same license >as the current one: you may may 2 copies, so three people can share the $120. >I think compared to what Microsoft, Lotus, and most other companies charge, >this is not outrageous. My major premise was wrong - I thought the limit of two copies applied to academic institutions; since (in another message) ast has said that it does not, a student working on Minix needs only the texbook, at about $50. Far from being overpriced for the student market, Minix is therefore underpriced. Most 'student versions' of DOS application programs are limited in scope, and cost (with text) $35 or so. Minix has infinitely more functionality, full source, and a much better textbook to explain it all. Interesting that this is the same way that Unix gained its foothold - low cost to the academic community and full source. Coincidence or plan? For the non-academic market, the cost is reasonable if not low; all Minix users will need the textbook, so it will be a pity if separate disks are not available, but by the time the listing has been added two volumes are really needed! The code would fit nicely in the slip case distribution. (BTW, for comparison, Wordstar 5.5 uses 18 360K disks and is now selling for $100 as an upgrade from any older version.) Ast goes on to say: >>I bought the slipcase with Minix 1.2, (I already had the textbook) >Why did you buy the slipcase version when the yellow box with the disks >was available for much less? Because I knew no better, of course! I was moving from a Z80 running CP/M on floppies to an 8088 running Minix on a hard disk, with no MSDOS experience, and I wanted all the help I could get. I couldn't find a slipcase copy locally, hoped that it contained useful installation information, and reckoned $30 extra was a good gamble. With hindsight, it wasn't, so I thought it was worth warning others not to make the same mistake. In fact, I had problems getting Minix to talk to my harddrive, and only got it running with help from another net user (who I found to be on the next floor down, in the same building!). Just for the record, I think Minix is a magic beast - I've had enormous fun with it, and learned a great deal; exactly what it was written for. However, I'm also interested in studying how Minix is adopted by the user community, and indeed how the Usenet medium affects that adoption. There are a lot of interesting points about the process of Minix, without even considering the content! Will =========================================================================== While we were studying rats, let it | not be forgotten that rats had | cwr@pnet01.cts.com an unrivalled opportunity to | study us. Anon. | =========================================================================== UUCP: {nosc ucsd hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!pnet01!cwr ARPA: crash!pnet01!cwr@nosc.mil INET: cwr@pnet01.cts.com