DRAFT Agenda for SLUG/SMBX Meeting of 15 December

[Kenneth Forbus <forbus@A.CS.UIUC.EDU>]

   Those weren't upgrades, they were ECOs, i.e. bug fixes.  Since you don't
   have a service contract, you have to pay for them.  No one gets bug
   fixes, either hardware or software, for free.

Excuse me, there is something wrong here.  I buy a car.  Its brakes
don't work.  I'm supposed to pay to have them repaired?  That's not
how it works for most products.  Maintenance means "fixing failured
due to wear and tear", not due poor design.

I get hardware and software bug fixes for free all the time for other
computers I own.  Vendors of micros and software for them often think
that if their product doesn't work properly, they should fix it.  Two
outstanding companies in this regard are Borland and COMPAQ.  (To be
fair, not all of them are reasonable in this regard, but I'll bet you
can tell who I tend to buy things from.)

For workstations other vendors have been willing to offer very
reasonable prices, generally less for a year's maintenance per machine
than Symbolics wants for a month per machine.