Informix ASSURANCE

The following message was sent to a FAQ. I have imported it to a new group as I think that it should be discussed. This may or may not be suitable for the FAQ - as it is a new Informix development. It is being posted to Kerry - but I thought other people might like to tell me I am wrong to whinge about this: Informix Assurance: In the uk Informix sell you software at a certain price, and then add 12% assurance on top of that. This 12% is supposed to be telephone support for a certain period - I think a year. So for instance I am buying an ESQL-C developer's license. This will cost me 235 pounds - which is a ridiculous price since I _only_ want INet and I believe that should be free with the database server. But the catch is that the minimum assurance price is 200 pounds. So I (the company) ends up paying 235 + 200 + VAT (VAT = UK Sales tax) That is more than double the original quoted price! I may be naive but I think that if you buy a piece of software you should be able to use it without paying extra for tech support in the first few months. original author: Alex McLintock [also alexmc@biccdc.co.uk] Editor for the Project Galactic Guide (alt.galactic-guide) Number 6 -- David H Lipschitz email: david@lipdav.demon.co.uk Orbital Decisions: decision support services to bulk shipping companies The opinions are probably those of my company. I own the company If you don't try, you won't know