RE: Why is Geac withholding Source Code...? -- SYSTEM21

I think it is fairly obvious that Geac is trying to stop the bleeding
within JBA...  By that I mean recapture the revenue stream for consulting
$'s...

There are a large number of companies whose very existence is due primarily
to the fact that JBA was charging such high prices for their consulting
services...  I think it is a natural life cycle for a software package...
The more sales made the more techies are exposed to the software the more
of those techies leverage their knowledge into new jobs with other
customers or the vendor themselves...

Eventually some entrepreneurially minded individuals see a niche that they
can fill and they decide to start their own business and begin hiring from
this talent pool...  Or some existing services provider sees a glut of
talent and packages their services around the glut...

While I can understand Geac's stated philosophy of not publishing source
code because you want all of your customers to be at the same level to ease
the support and development headaches, this cannot be the only reason for
their actions...  I wish we did not need to modify the software to meet our
needs...  I'd love nothing better then to not have to retrofit our mods
every time there is a service pack...!!!  But the fact of the matter is we
do need to make those mods...  Plus we find bugs in the code all the time
and we make the repairs on-the-spot while we wait for our "donated" fixes
to appear in the standard product...

There are several of those consulting services companies that monitor this
list and I'm sure they would agree that this move is targeted at them...  I
have heard that Geac believes some of these companies have obtained illegal
copies of the software and somehow acquired illicit authorization codes as
well...  While I find that difficult to believe, I suppose it is
possible...  But placing a strangle hold on your entire customer base is
not the right approach...

If you think JBA's rates are high now just wait until they have driven off
all of the competition...  I am somewhat uneasy thinking about the fact
that my ERP vendor is that hard up for cash...  They have stopped paying
their employees bonuses...  Much of the talent (especially in the Detroit
office) has left JBA...  I doubt very seriously that they have made many
sales this year, and I suspect the pipeline is not clogged with orders...
It is very possible that JBA as we know it may not be around very much
longer...  Maybe then we can get our source code out of those escrow
accounts...

I don't know how all of this is going to work out, but I do know that the
lives of many people are going to be dramatically affected by this
companies decision to withhold Source Code from it's customers...

Thank you for all of your contributions to the list on this subject...

Jeff Klipa
Mgr. System Applications & Development
Harvard Industries, Inc.
www.harvardind.com


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