Remember back when HP announced the bundling of
FTP and ThinLAN 3000/iX Link (a.k.a. ARPA services) ??
Well, there appears to be a little caveot.  Maybe most of
y'all already know this and I was in the minority, but:
 
In reviewing our current HP 3000 software maintenance
contract for next year, happened to notice we were still
getting charged for ThinLAN 3000/iX Link.  Called our friendly
not-so-local HP Federal Business Center back in Rockville,
MD to ask that this product which is now bundled be removed
from our contract;  and oh-by-the-way since we went to
MPE/iX 5.0 push back in like March is there a chance we
could get a credit for paying for this "bundled" product since
then.  The answer:
 
The "system" back in Rockville is apparently set up to remove
what were chargeable products that are now "bundled" ONLY
AT THE TIME OF CONTRACT RENEWAL !!!! (.......I will limit
myself to a quota of *4* !-marks......).        :-(
 
Now in the big scheme of things, getting charged $40 a month
for six month for a product that HP has touted as already being
bundled is not going to break us..........  But somehow I seem to
recall getting the impression from various HP speakers at
various SIG meetings and roundtables that when a site went
to 5.0 the "bundling" became effective immediately, and that
support contracts would be "automatically" updated.......  Silly
me;  I thought it might actually happen.....
 
So if someone updates to 5.0 a couple weeks after re-newing
their yearly maintenance contract, they get to continue to pay
for their bundled ARPA products for 11 more months ??
..... Or is it just us Federal Government customers who get this
privilege (it's possible;  there are some amazinly obtuse and
convoluted things in some of these GSA contracts).....
 
Just another day at the office......................
 
Ken Sletten