In his blog today, Jonathan responds to a frustrated developer who wanted to take advantage of the advertised deal on our new workstations:
an Ultra 20, fully loaded with Solaris, and the entirety of our Java developer platform and runtime infrastructure for $29.95/mos – and get the hardware for FREE”
…only to find that when he tried to order it, the actual price was $360/yr. (Not a big deal for most people, but it would be for some – and more to the point, it wasn’t what had been promised.) Jonathan’s mea culpa explanation: it was…
because our internal ERP systems were implemented at a point in time where no one could imagine a Sun product with a monthly price vs. an annual price
And even though it would be nice if this kind of thing didn’t happen, the alternative is worse. People at the cutting edge – with products, developer initiatives, solutions – should always be pushing the envelope, challenging what the traditional corporate processes and infrastructure can handle. Personal case in point: when I joined Sun back in 1985, all of our products were hardware boxes. I don’t think we even had a software product on the price list (except perhaps a 3270 terminal emulator – different world, eh?). My team created PC-NFS, the first NFS client solution for DOS-based PCs. (This was before Windows; back then Bill Gates was hot for Xenix!) In June 1986 we shipped our first revenue units, and within a few days the first customer service call came in.
I’ve got a question about this PC-NFS product I just received.
Certainly, sir. Can you tell me the serial number on the box?
Er… OK, there’s a license number printed on the label on the software box – is that what you want?
No, sir: I need you to tell me the system serial number of your Sun computer. It’ll be next to the power switch.
But I’m trying to install PC-NFS on a Compaq Deskpro.
I see. Well, perhaps you can give me the serial number of the file server.
That won’t help. The file server is a Pyramid system. We don’t have any Sun hardware at all.
I’m sorry, sir: without a system serial number I can’t log your call.
!@#?<>*&%$#!
The rest of the support network was in place: we just hadn’t got around to changing the front-line process. And nobody had envisaged the possibility of selling Sun software into an account without any Sun hardware. (Sounds familiar, Jonathan?) In any case, the support process was straightened out with commendable speed. Should we have held up product shipment until all the infrastructure glitches were worked out? No way.