Hi Steve,
We are a former customer of Speedware. I was about to respond to this
thread when I noticed your response, which changes mine somewhat.
Back in 1992, we upgraded from a 950 to a 960 (a board swap). At that
time, Speedware wanted $13,000 for upgrade fees, along with increased
annual support fees. Given that Speedware was extremely slow about
new releases (version 6 came out two years after it was initially
promised), and that we used support services only to report bugs with
the software, we discontinued support. Granted, this was eons ago, in
computer terms.
I'm glad to see that things have changed.
-Bob
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______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Cognos alternatives?
Author: Steve Hanson <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Date: 1/20/98 9:02 AM
<SEMI-PLUG>
Well, YES. Like Cognos (and many other vendors in the HP3000 market),
Speedware ran into the issues of licensing (multiple threads abound!)
and upgrade fees, etc. and the openly bad feelings that went along with
it.
Speedware initiated a program about two years ago that "capped" license
fees for our traditional tools (the 4GL and EasyReporter products).
This accomplished what our customer base wanted: No matter how far they
upgraded a machine, the license fees were capped, or bought out, and
they were NOT penalized by going to a larger box.
We have, in fact, converted many shops using competitive tools (that
Ottawa-based company included) simply for the reason that getting into
our environment AND CONVERTING, TRAINING, ETC. was cheaper than
upgrading their existing apps. We still have a special program for that
today.
I won't go on the soapbox, but there are other differences that make the
decision for Speedware a solid one (web/internet interface to the 4GL,
GUI client/server, etc., EASE OF CONVERSION) and I'd be glad to discuss
them with anyone who is interested offline, for sake of the list server.
Bottom line: There ARE alternatives, and not just Speedware. We're
only one of them, albeit a good one. Any questions are welcome...
Steve Hanson, Account Executive
Speedware Corporation
voice: 510-867-3300, ext. 274 email: [log in to unmask]
fax: 510-867-3400 web: http://www.speedware.com
>STUART PIERCE WROTE:
>Speedware ?
>-------------
>Original Text
>From "Glenn Cole" <[log in to unmask]>, on 1/18/98
>7:35 PM:
>Jeff Woods writes:
>
>>Once upon a time, a company named Tymlabs wrote and marketed a product
>>called "PDQ for Quiz" which essentially functioned as a Quiz compiler,
>>making Quiz reports run much faster. Cognos sued and effectively won
>>the lawsuit against Tymlabs because the product was essentially abandoned.
>>I don't see why that wouldn't happen again if someone tried to compete
>>with them by being a "drop-in replacement."
>
>then Bruce Toback:
>
>> I wrote PDQ. It's a fairly safe bet that it would happen again.
>> Essentially every claim made in Cognos's lawsuit was false.
>
>Would the result of "Lotus vs. Borland" help if, say, PDQ2 were to
>come to market?
>
>--Glenn Cole / Software al dente, Inc. / [log in to unmask]
>
>.......................................................................
>
>Item Subject: cc:Mail Text
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