<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"><HTML><HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><TITLE>RE: vrf Announcing VEE 6.1</TITLE><META content="MSHTML 6.00.2716.2200" name=GENERATOR></HEAD><BODY><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Boy, you let a guy know you're a Canuck, and he never lets you forget it! </FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>:-) "Prices slightly higher in Canada"</FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>As Nicole mentioned, we gave List Prices. We had meant to mention the currently available discounted introductory prices, but Friday's email was complicated enough that we forgot to put it in. Sorry.</FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV><DIV><SPAN class=126572415-10062002><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Regards,</FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV><P><FONT size=2>Scott Bayes<BR>Software Technical Support<BR><BR>Agilent Technologies, Inc.<BR>815 14th Street S.W.<BR>Loveland, CO, U.S.A. 80537<BR><BR>970 679 3799 Tel<BR>970 635 6867 Fax</FONT> </P><BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Mike Groves [mailto:Mike_Groves@cree.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 07, 2002 5:41 PM<BR><B>To:</B> 'BAYES,SCOTT (A-Loveland,ex1)'; VEE Reflector (E-mail)<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: vrf Announcing VEE 6.1<BR><BR></FONT></DIV> <P><FONT size=2>Scott,</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>Not sure where your pricing numbers came from, but your web site says:</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2> VEE Pro for Windows ARTU (E2120AL) . . . . . . . . $680.00</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>(Which, for clarification, includes 1 year of ADN Professional.)</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>and...</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2> One-time upgrade from VEE Pro 6.0. (E2120AD) . . . . $300.00</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>(Which includes a 1 time, 6 month free subscription to ADN Professional.)</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>I think your prices were somewhat higher. (Canadian dollars maybe) </FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>Mike Groves</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Cree Microwave</FONT> </P><BR> <P><FONT size=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>From: BAYES,SCOTT (A-Loveland,ex1) [<A href="mailto:scott_bayes@Agilent.com">mailto:scott_bayes@Agilent.com</A>]</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 3:58 PM</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>To: 'vrf@lvld.agilent.com'</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Subject: RE: vrf Announcing VEE 6.1</FONT> </P><BR> <P><FONT size=2>Hello vrf-ers.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>We have not been ignoring the recent traffic on the vrf about VEE 6.01 to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>6.1 upgrades, and VEE 6.03. We wanted to understand what you are faced with</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>and how we can make a reasonable response to the group before responding.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>We've talked to some of you whom we felt were representative of the vrf with</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>respect to the upgrade issues, because we can't possibly talk to all of you</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>individually.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>We will discuss the Licensing issues later, but for now, we need to get the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>upgrade topic addressed. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>I'm going to cover a number of areas in order to explain what you need to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>know in order to evaluate the final part, which is "What is Agilent going to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>_do_ for us?". I apologize for the length of this posting, but lack of</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>information and misinformation are large components of the current</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>situation.</FONT> </P><BR> <P><FONT size=2>We believe your primary concerns to be the following:</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- VEE 6.1 is a small improvement over 6.0/6.01, mostly defect fixes, and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>does not warrant paying $395 for, which is the cost of E2120AD, the upgrade</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>from 6.0/6.01 to 6.1</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- defect fixes should be free anyway</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- Agilent has done little marketing or explanation of 6.1. Are we hiding</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>something?</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- Agilent has never discussed this 6.03 rev. What's going on?</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>For now, please allow me to restrict the response to the above, and not</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>respond to the licensing/LAN card discussion that's filling my email-box. I</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>promise to respond to that topic in the near future, but the stated focus</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>for this email is already complex enough. I'm sure there are other concerns</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>that I won't address in this response. Please hold off on them for a while</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>too, till we can get this one resolved.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>Let me respond to the concerns in the order that I believe makes it easiest</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>to understand.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- we have done little marketing or explanation of 6.1. Are we hiding</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>something?</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>Not trying to hide anything at all. As insiders who live and breathe it, and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>talk VEE 6.1 every day, we just didn't realize it wouldn't be immediately</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>obvious to web visitors that 6.1 is new and replaces 6.01. By the way, 6.1</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>is indeed the "VEE-NR" that I mentioned on the vrf back in Dec and again in</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Jan/Feb.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>I posted a part number and pricing clarification for VEE 6.1 a few days ago</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>on the vrf, in case you're not familiar with the pricing details and options</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>for the new product.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- Agilent has never discussed this 6.03 rev. What's going on?</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>6.03 was purpose-built as a limited-release, temporary revision. The</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>purposes were:</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- T&M Toolkit for .NET needed some Automation Server functionality</FONT> <BR> <FONT size=2> not found in 6.01. We initiated 6.03 primarily to provide that </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> functionality to T&M Toolkit beta testers.</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- because we were already modifying the VEE source and would have </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> to do QA anyway, we decided to fix some of the highest weight </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> defects, particularly those which we knew specific customers </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> were experiencing show-stopper problems. In addition, R&D chose </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> to fix some other defects. We intended a limited distribution of </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> 6.03 to only the specific customers experiencing the show-stopper </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> problems; later some other customers also experiencing</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>show-stopper </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> problems received the 6.03 patch. We warned these recipients of </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> 6.03 that it was an unsupported revision that would need to be </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> replaced when 6.1 became available, as we could not afford to </FONT><BR> <FONT size=2> support 6.03 long-term.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>By the way, 6.03 was actually released only as a patch that would update</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>copies of 6.01. As far as I know, it was never provided as a complete VEE</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>executable. So when I say "6.03" I mean the patch or VEE 6.01 updated by the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>patch to 6.03 as appropriate.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>To distribute 6.03 for bugfix purposes, we decided to place it on the ftp</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>server that the vrf discovered. We gave the appropriate URL to the customers</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>we had been in contact with, and hoped no one else would find it.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>In this day of extensive web search engines like Google, this "security by</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>obscurity" was a mistake.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>A final major piece of information: 6.03 is significantly less capable than</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>6.1. It includes only the Toolkit functionality and some defect fixes. It</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>does not include Windows XP support, MATLAB 6.1 integration and support, and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>a lot of the defect fixes found in 6.1. As a matter of fact, the VEE R&D</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>team acquired the services of one of our best ActiveX R&D experts not long</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>after 6.03 was wrapped up, and she fixed a lot of the known ActiveX defects,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>plus generally cleaning up the ActiveX handling in VEE. I think 6.1 has a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>lot of value over 6.03.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>We are going to remove the 6.03 patches from the ftp site because we have</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>decided to make them a supported part of T&M Toolkit for .NET product. The</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>patches and a Readme will appear on the T&M Toolkit CD and in the download</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>from ADN. They are intended for use by T&M Toolkit programmers who want to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>use their VEE code from .NET. For users for whom VEE is vital, like those on</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>the vrf, we recommend upgrading to VEE 6.1 because it is more complete than</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>6.03.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- VEE 6.1 is a small improvement over 6.0/6.01, mostly defect fixes, and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>does not warrant paying $395 for, which is the cost of E2120AD, the upgrade</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>from 6.0/6.01 to 6.1</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>In retrospect, we agree that there is not as much value as users would</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>expect in the new revision. We agree we need to provide more value for this</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>price. Please read on.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- defect fixes should be free anyway</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>I'd like to put aside this rather highly charged topic until we get to the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>changes we are making to increase the value of the update.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>----</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>I'll ask you to bear with me in this section, because I am going to describe</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>a brand-new product--the Agilent Developer Network (ADN)--as I believe it is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>not well understood by most VEE customers. Yet when we have explained it to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>these customers, they have agreed it could be quite valuable to them. It's</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>worth reading about ADN because it is what we are going to add to E2120AD.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>ADN provides real value to VEE and instrument users (note that some of the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>content is available for free, no purchase needed, and some requires buying</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>ADN Professional, at $495/year):</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- access to documents written by experts. This is the distilled</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>expertise of the Agilent support and R&D communities, especially those who</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>use VEE and I/O. Code snippets, tech notes, extended tech discussions, white</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>papers, app notes. Think of this as self-help material. Note that it is a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>bit sparse right now, but we are continually adding content. I have</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>contributed or edited a lot of material that is now on the ADN website or is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>"in the pipeline" and should appear soon.</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- tech support. ADN Pro allows you to submit a technical (or</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>non-tech, if you wish) support question and get an answer from us. You can</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>do it by email, if you're tired of being passed around on the phone! It is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>the mechanism by which we provide the full support included in E2120AL, the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>VEE 6.1 Annual Right To Use, for example. If the questions are deep enough,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>they come back to Nicole and me, and we can take them to the VEE or Toolkit</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>R&D teams when necessary.</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- access to the latest product updates, instrument drivers, IO</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Libraries, instrument and software manuals, etc. All nicely organized and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>easy to get at. At last you can stop searching the Agilent general site</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>trying to find a programming manual for an E34401, or whatever. There's also</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>a program that examines your system and advises you what is out-of-date,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>e.g. I/O Libraries K.01.00, and gives you an option to download any updates.</FONT> </P> <P> <FONT size=2>- community. Discussion forums, a place to post apps or snippets you</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>want to share, and a place to post your story about how you designed an</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>application or test system, etc. Submit a bug report to us from the free ADN</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Basic area. We plan to put the vrf into ADN Basic, as well. Don't panic, we</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>won't charge for it; it will stay free for all users. Nicole will send a vrf</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>message asking about your need for email access to vrf, since ADN is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>web-centric; this is your chance to make your needs known to us, so please</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>respond to her.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>ADN Basic, the free version, requires you to register and provide some basic</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>info about yourself on the Web (we follow the Agilent Privacy Policy), and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>provides some pretty good self-help stuff, though not software updates or</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Agilent tech support. You can try it, if you like, at |</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>www.agilent.com/find/adn >. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>ADN Professional, W1150A, $495/year, provides more content in most of the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>above areas, plus access to minor product updates for VEE and T&M Toolkit</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>for .NET, Tech Support, and regularly shipped CDs with much of the content</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>of the ADN Pro website on them (popular drivers, IO Libraries, white papers,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>demos and evaluation versions, etc). </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>A clarification: Though the ADN Professional website is where the downloads</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>of major revisions of products ("upgrades") can be found, ADN Pro does not</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>provide the new license required to execute new major revisions; that</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>license is only available through purchase of an ARTU or a Perpetual</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>license. ADN Pro is just the delivery mechanism for electronic-only</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>products. Visit the link above to learn more about ADN Pro.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>---</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>- "What is Agilent going to _do_ for us?"</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>For the price of the E2120AD (the upgrade from VEE 6.0/6.01 to VEE 6.1) you</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>will get both the 6.1 upgrade and 6 months of ADN Professional. This of</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>course includes access to any minor updates of VEE we publish during that</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>period--I can't guarantee an update during that time, but there may be</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>one--tech support, and access to all the other ADN Pro stuff.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>If you like ADN Pro and want to continue after the 6 months are done, you'll</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>need to buy a year's subscription (W1150A $495), or buy a VEE ARTU (E2120AL</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>$895) and get it that way. In either case, E2120AD will provide you with a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>perpetual license to run 6.1, whether you continue with ADN Pro or not.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>This new product definition for E2120AD will apply to all buyers, not just</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>vrf members. 6 months ADN Pro will automatically be credited if you have</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>already purchased E2120AD, and you'll get information on how to register for</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>ADN Pro. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>Our price list doesn't yet include the ADN membership with E2120AD, and the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Contact Center people can't yet answer questions about it. We wanted to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>announce it first to the vrf. We'll post in the vrf when we're ready to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>implement the program. Should take a few weeks. Your ADN Pro subscription</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>will only start when you set it up on the web, and will run for 6 months</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>after that. You will be required to register for ADN Professional before</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Nov 1, 2002 to take advantage of the six months ADN Pro membership.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>This opportunity to get 6 months ADN Pro with E2120AD will terminate after</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Oct 31, 2002. The ADN Pro memberships themselves will expire 6 months after</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>you sign up on the Web. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>Sincerely,</FONT> </P><BR> <P><FONT size=2>Scott Bayes</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Nicole Dierksheide</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Software Technical Support</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>Agilent Technologies, Inc.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>815 14th Street S.W.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Loveland, CO, U.S.A. 80537</FONT> </P> <P><FONT size=2>970 679 3799 Tel</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>970 635 6867 Fax</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>---------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>This is the "vrf" maillist, managed by Majordomo. To send messages to</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>this maillist, just email to "vrf@lvld.agilent.com". Subscriptions and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>unsubscriptions are done through the address "vrf-request@lvld.agilent.com".</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>If you need details, just send a message containing the text "help"</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>to "vrf-request@lvld.agilent.com".</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>---------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT> </P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
I recently contacted Steve Manion concerning price and availability of
VEE 6.1
(Agilent Representative: 1-800-452-4844)
A few points we covered:
10 License Upgrades (E2120AD) $395.00 each (No Manuals. Manuals provided
online)
10 License Upgrades (E2120M) $595.00 each (Manuals provided)
Software Support: 5 Incidents/Year (W1150A) $495.00
I didn't inquire about single license pricing.
The price differential seems a little high just for hard copy manuals.
Agilent will provide free phone assistance for installation issues.
Anything else will require
some kind of software support.
Each license copy will have its own serial number. Gone are the days of
one serial number
for multiple licenses. When you receive your software you register it
online. Then you have
access to the manuals assuming you purchased the software only option.
Steve assured me
that the computer you are installing VEE on does NOT have to be online.
Some of us have
computers that do not have internet access due to security issues.
This information is about 3 weeks old. Steve informed me that there were
major changes
with licensing and support going on and that some things were still in
flux. So keep this in
mind as you consider the information I have presented.
Regards, Mike
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