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From: jasantos@ultranet.com (John A Santos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms,comp.sys.intel
Subject: Re: OS prices, was: Re: Per SKD Expections...
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 10:37:59 -0500
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In article <647ukt$v8@gap.cco.caltech.edu>, mathog@seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu 
says...
> Just to flesh out this thread about OS, prices a bit more, I'm including 
> here the prices to buy the minimal set of OpenVMS licenses needed to 
> transform an Alphaworkstation into a machine that you can actually log into
> and have a screen to work with, and comparing these to real prices for 
> otherOS's.  The OpenVMS configuration is is a very minimal workstation
> configuration (no compilers, no application software, just the window
> environment, the OS, and a single user license).  These prices date from
> February 1997, and I don't know if they have changed since then. (These were
> for an alphastation 200 4/166, which I saw advertised at the time for
> $2250, but no licenses.) 
> 
>   QL-MTAE-6L   (VMS base)     845  (Otherwise, zip)
>   QL-MT3AA-3B  (single user)  327  (Otherwise, can't do squat)
>   QL-36NAE-AA  (NAS 150)     1770  (Otherwise, no DECwindows, no net)
>   total                      2942  <---!!!!!!!!
> 
If you are a software developer, you can join the ASAP program 
(~$120/yr), and get a 40-50% discount on lots of hardware and software
from DEC.  VMS base becomes about $450.  You can also subscribe to
the ASAP SDK for about $500 yr.  This gives you a subscription to
the VMS CD's and licenses for lots of stuff (DECNET, UCX, Motif,
DECset, virtually every compiler ... and (I think, but am not 100%
sure) unlimited user's.  Not included: Shadowing, and mostly end-user
(vs. development) type products.

You have to use the system for software development and/or porting,
not for production, and anything you buy under the discount is supposed
to be used for software development only for some time (2 years?).

The two-year cost of this would be about $1700, and you get to keep
your VMS license.

Of course, if you are a software developer, you need to be developing
software for some set of customers, and they aren't eligible for these
discounts, so ...

John Santos