Dear Eric,
 
I was recently notified about your concern about what you consider to be my
unauthorized release of Beta test information.   It appears to me that you
have incorrectly stated your case.  You claim that "The prices you got are
 not public and are not being offered  to the general public" but as the
following email message indicates the prices that I quoted were prices that
were sent to me as John Q. Public and represented the prices of a shipping
product.   As the following email extract  indicates, they had nothing to do
with the Beta agreement and clearly were not covered by any agreement
explicit or otherwise.  As you will note, it makes no reference to the
prices being for members of the Beta test group and is does claim that the
pricing for NT would be the same as that for VMS.
 
I do take the responsibilities of beta testing very seriously but when a
product ships (ie when John Q. Public can buy it) then I consider myself
free to comment on information received through public channels.
 
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Copy of EMail message received in response to a telephone call to LSoft.
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Date:         Thu, 02 Feb 95 07:44:54 EST
From: Elena Nolen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Pricing for LISTSERV NT
To: Laurence <[log in to unmask]>
 
 
  Laurence,
 
     I tried calling you yesterday, but I guess you were already gone for the
meeting. Sorry, I tried to get back to you as quickly as I could. The prices
below are the prices for the VMS version of LISTSERV. We are going to charge
the same prices for the NT version. The perpetual licenses are $4300 for an
unlimited license. Maint. for the NT version would be $2500 yearly. If you
decide on a perpetual license, you can take a 10% New Customer Discount off the
total or the license and maint. The second year maint. will be the standard
rate. If you would like copies of the contracts mailed to you let me know where
to send them, and I will get them out for you. If you have any other questions
please feel free to contact me.
 
Elena Nolen
L-Soft International
(301) 942-8886 or [log in to unmask]
--------------------------------------
 
 
>I don't have a problem with the  fact that you feel the unlimited license
>is worth $500 to you. I do have a problem with deliberate misinformation.
>Incidentally, you  have just  violated the  beta testing  agreement. Your
>message is exactly the  kind of reason why so many  vendors have a strict
>beta testing  policy with  formal non-disclosure agreements.  The pricing
>for  the NT  version  has  not been  finalized  yet.  We are  considering
>radically different forms of licensing  that are more appropriate for the
>PC market and  we decided to use  the VMS price list ad  interim for beta
>sites that told us they needed the software right now. You received these
>prices because you were  a member of the beta group. If  you had been Joe
>Random  Customer you  would have  received  a temporary  price list  with
>graduated prices only and an explicit  disclaimer. The prices you got are
>not public and are not being offered  to the general public. As an L-Soft
>employee  I am  free to  mention  the availability  of certain  licensing
>options or otherwise speak  about the software, but until I  or one of my
>colleagues  disclose or  publicly offer  the particular  option you  were
>offered, you are not free to bring it up. On top of that you have grossly
>misrepresented  our  pricing  policy.  I  am  quite  familiar  with  beta
>procedures and rules,  having participated in quite a  number myself back
>when my job was  to run mainframes. If I had posted  a message like yours
>following a beta test involving my  employer, I would have been fired for
>gross misconduct,  because the  beta agreement was  in writing  and noone
>wants to be sued by IBM. So what is going to happen is that the next time
>MSU wants to  test any of our  products, there will have to  be a written
>contract with  clear penalties for non  observance. And if more  sites do
>the same, we will just require everyone to sign contracts.
>
>  Eric
>