SHAVA@ISIS.MIT.EDU (05/16/88)
From: ISIS::SHAVA 16-MAY-1988 09:00
To: IN%"OBERMAN@icdc.llnl.gov",SHAVA
Subj: RE: Re: DECUS asked us to put this here...
At MIT, we wanted to have an "unofficial" LUG, not directly associated with
DECUS, for the simple purpose of being "commercial." It wouldn't behoove us,
as an engineering university with a close relationship with DEC, to discuss
pricing outside of our corporate context. So we formed a group named "VAXSyM"
(VAX System Managers at MIT) to deal with strategic issues such as site
licensing with DEC and other vendors.
I would recommend this for any organization who uses a lot of any one vendor's
equipment. We were able to negotiate as a corporate body for some contracts
that we never could have gotten otherwise (we have several purchasing offices
and lots of independance in ordering, so we can't dictate sources), and were
able to set up arrangements with DEC software and field service offices and
with third party vendors such as Compuserve, and were able to get our lab
supply office to recognize the need to stock supplies such as tk50's and
9-track non-back-coated tapes.
We didn't stop going to our local LUG, however. Their access to technical
speakers is still a great asset, and people from DEC will schedule technical
presentations at LUGs _in_anticipation_ of an announcement, whereas without
official DEC contact, we would have to scramble for a speaker after an
announcement was made (or at least after it was in Digital_Review :-).
I think that there are places where a non-DECUS "commercial" LUG would be a
good option, but it does not remove the usefulness of a DECUS LUG.
Shava Nerad
Coordinator,
MIT VAX Resource Center
shava@isis.mit.edu
shava@athena.mit.edu
{official? HA!}