stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.COM (Dick St.Peters) (07/05/90)
Chan Benson writes: > > If I ever buy a workstation...I will require that it *not* come with > > Motif. I have no interest in paying extra for something I don't want > > and won't be using. > Anyway, you're not the type of customer being discussed. Companies who > buy hundreds of workstations at a pop want system software supported by the > company they bought them from (ie. they're one-stop shoppers). Companies like us (GE)? I've been told by vendors that GE is the largest non-government buyer of computers (although I've never seen any real figures). You're remarkably naive if you don't think that costs, hidden or otherwise, are a *major* factor in buying decisions. > Take a vacation from your ivory tower and get a look at the world (aka the > military-industrial complex from which the money flows that makes this > all possible). Two months ago GE (an OSF member!) signed an agreement with Sun to be its strategic workstation vendor. A lot of money will flow ... [The agreement is *not* a GE endorsement of any GUI; GE is as divided on this as is the rest of the world.] The agreement is also non-exclusive: no vendor is shut out. Give us the deal that's best (in our terms), and we'll buy from you. But don't sit in your lab and tell us what we want. From my perspective, vendors' engineering labs shine with as much ivory as any in academia. -- Dick St.Peters, GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com uunet!dawn.crd.ge.com!stpeters Speaking about GE, not for it. The opinions are mine.
chan@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (Chan Benson) (07/10/90)
>> Anyway, you're not the type of customer being discussed. Companies who >> buy hundreds of workstations at a pop want system software supported by the >> company they bought them from (ie. they're one-stop shoppers). > >Companies like us (GE)? I've been told by vendors that GE is the >largest non-government buyer of computers (although I've never seen >any real figures). > >You're remarkably naive if you don't think that costs, hidden or >otherwise, are a *major* factor in buying decisions. You missed my point (not surprising, since I didn't make it very clear). The original statement was that customers will require Motif to be provided and supported by system vendors. I know this to be true from reading actual RFPs from customers. Someone from a university said that was stupid, he didn't want to pay for something he wasn't going to use. I went overboard in backing up the original statement (which was that customers will soon demand Motif). Although I regret the way I said it, I stand behind my view that large customers (such as divisions of GE) want complete systems that are supported by the system vendor. They are willing to pay extra for single point support of system software (as opposed to getting internal staff to support freeware). > But don't sit in your lab and tell us what we want. I wasn't trying to. Just relaying what customers have told me *they* want. > From my perspective, vendors' engineering labs shine with as much > ivory as any in academia. That's fine, I don't work in an engineering lab. My opinions are the results of working closely with many customers who have spent large sums of money on HP computer systems (GE included). I don't pretend that they represent the entire computer market, but they are more indicative than the view of a single hacker at a university. -- Chan