The latest twist in the sorry tale of the Performing Rights Society membership computer system has provided easy fodder for a New Year feeding frenzy among the UK trade press. In the latest twist, the Society has decided to sue project manager Learmonth & Burchett Management Systems Plc for negligence and misrepresentation in a ú16m suit. The society abandoned work on a ú10m project to migrate its existing membership system to Unix using Pyramid Technology Corp hardware back in 1992 and has been fighting to recoup its outlay ever since. The system apparently could not support even 100 active and 200 ad hoc users accessing a 16Gb Sybase database. Data Logic Communications Services Ltd used the Uniface proprietary language to build the environment. The society would not comment on suggestions that other suppliers to the abortive project might face legal action. Learmonth & Burchett said that the claims are untrue.
