Re: [WinMac] Apple breaching contracts over OS-X?

John C. Welch(jwelch[at]aer.com)
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 11:00:58 -0500

        you know, this whole argument is about silly. This is like saying that
a volume Windows95/98 agreement entitles you to the same consideration
price-wise for Windows2000 enterprise server. I would be willing to bet
that there is a perfectly legit out clause in there that gives Apple the
right to modify the agreement as necessary. Almost any contract you sign
has that clause because it's necessary. Saying that OS X Server is the
same as the MacOS is dumb, and Rhapsody was supposed to be a replacement
for the MacOS, NOT a server version of it. When Apple decide on the
(VERY INTELLIGENT) idea for MacOSX and Mac OS X server, that changed
what Rhapsody's role was. MacOSX is the only possible thing that would
be contained in a MacOS volume plan.
        Yes, OS X server not being part of a pre-existing plan for Rhapsody
sucks, but I have seen it happen all over the place. Especially in the
Military, when despite signing guaranteed enlistment papers, people get
so shocked when that clause about "Air Force needs override any other
consideration". Read the contract, because my company had one, and the
Apple Clause was in there.

john

"Daniel L. Schwartz" wrote:
>
> If you are a corporate Apple customer and have an Upgrade Contract, better click on:
> <http://macweek.zdnet.com/1999/03/21/licensing.html>; and follow this link to Macintouch at:
> <http://www.macintouch.com/mxsrhaplic.html>.
>
> The last letter (as of this morning) from a confidential source describing his experience with an Apple VP calling him was especially troubling... There are over 1.5 million licences covered by Apple's agreements. My experience only tells me that a contract is only as good as the people that sign it.
>
> I quote from the article:
>
> >>>>
>
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999
> From: [MacInTouch reader]
> Subject: Apple Software Maintenance Programs
> To: [MacInTouch Confidential]
>
> I had a VP of Apple personally call me ... after months of fighting with Apple over Software Maintenance agreements that we had established over the years. According to this individual, all maintenance programs are axed at the point of subscription lapse. This comes all the way from the top and apparently no amount of persuation has been able to get Steve to change his mind on this.
>
> I had the regional manager here ... and we talked about this. He pointed it out that it was specifically due to OS maintenance agreements that Apple was able to advertise that even before OS8 had shipped, Apple had sold more than one and one half million copies. This was a slight of hand only afforded by the maintenance agreements already in place. He also went on to suggest that one of the primary reasons that maintenance agreements were being axed was because of the OSX release. Apple wants to sell only new licenses.
>
> The woman I talked to yesterday said that she had exhausted her influence over the matter and that she fully understands what this means to Government and Fortune 500 organizations that operate on an annual budget. (In my case, if software and hardware purchases do not take place within the first quarter of the new budget, they do not take place at all except under dire emergencies. This is why the maintenance program at Apple and Microsoft and others have been so convienient for us.) She told me that only a grass roots level protest would gather any movement to curb this decree.
>
> ... I have [volume] OS maintenance licenses that are contracted for two years at for a total cost of [thousands of dollars]. We thought that this was fair for both parties, Apple and us. We would never spend that much money on OS upgrades if we did it on a per user basis. Apple gets the money and we get OS upgrades for two years without having to think twice about it. This also insured us that we were license-compliant. As my original email to this VP (that apparently made it into Job's hands), to ax this program almost guarantees that many sites beside my own will struggle to stay that way in the future.
>
> just my .02
>
> <<<<
>
> Like I said, a contract is only as good as the people that sign it...
>
> You've been warned...
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Thu Mar 25 1999 - 08:06:04 PST