Article 2958 of dec.notes.technology.dechips: Title: Internet Gossip About Alpha Yields (and Digital UNIX) Reply Title: (none) Re: .23 It's well-understood that the hack for enabling UNIX/VMS booting on NT-only machines will make it's way onto the Internet. I was told Product Management felt very comfortable with the implementation, and with full understanding that a customer could choose to run UNIX/VMS on his or her (NT-only) machine with simple (undocumented) methods. More: Apparently the latest thinking is to have three pricing models for each of the various 4100 platform variants: 1) NT-only. 2) UNIX or VMS only. 3) Universal (can boot any of three operating systems). They're still trying to work out a viable pricing model. And I may have the three price models incorrect, but I know NT-only is one of them and that there are three different ones being pursued. I've been told that the price differences are really built into the O/S license versus the HW box. Whether this is true or not is not clear to me. In other words, the box costs the same regardless of #s 1,2,3 above, but since you can't (apparently) purchase the box without an operating system license, it's a moot point whether the internal bookkeeping (assigned costs and profits) are tied to the HW box versus the operating system. At least at a system level.. My guess is Digital will charge different prices for CPU upgrades based on the three price tiers listed above. This is only speculation, however, based on past conversations I've had when NT-only 4100s were actively being pursued last summer (before the plan was scrapped/tabled). If true, knowing this must really anger our customers. If indeed the "system" cost is the total of the HW box and the operating system, then one could argue that the customer doesn't know the difference when he/she purchases an AlphaServer 4100 system from Digital. One noter in this string seemed to be saying that you can indeed buy the O/S separately from the box, in which case what I heard was either incorrect or I didn't listen very well. Certainly, if you charge differently for the same exact CPU HW (save for a socketed SROM difference), this will presumably become quickly obvious to customers out there. And I, for one, would not be happy if I knew that Digital was gouging me because I was a loyal VMS or UNIX customer. Again, I don't know for a fact that CPU upgrade pricing will be tied to the above three price tiers. This is my speculation only..