Impatient to get the market for OfficeVision moving, IBM is making special offers… OfficeVision is so important to IBM’s future strategy – it is the company’s first opportunity to demonstrate what it means by co operating Systems Application Architecture applications and convert users into true believers – that it is hoping to stampede some of the more adventurous ones into buying the thing sight unseen by making a string of unrepeatable special offers on related products, notably ones that address the problem that the new products commandeer an awful lot of the memory on an 80386 PS/2. All the offers are currently announced for the US, but OfficeVision was a worldwide launch…

…on OS/2 and Extended 1.2… Before you start with OfficeVision in any serious way, you need OS/2 Extended Edition running on at least one of your PS/2s, and IBM has modified this month’s OS/2 Rebate Offering to embrace the new 1.2 versions of both Extended and Standard Editions. Those who can remember back a couple of weeks will recall that users who take all the discounts are effectively being paid by IBM to take OS/2 away (CI No 1,174), and the same hardware and software rebates as outlined in the OS/2 Rebate Offering are offered to people who take one of the new releases by the end of the year. In addition, fees to upgrade from Standard Edition Version 1.1 to 1.2, Extended Edition Version 1.1 to 1.2, and OS/2 Programmer’s Toolkit Version 1.1 to OS/2 Programming Tools and Information Version 1.2 will be waived until December 31, 1989. Also, customers who acquired Standard Edition, Extended Edition, or Programmer’s Toolkit Version 1.0 and have not yet taken advantage of the free upgrade to Standard Edition, Extended Edition, or Programmer’s Toolkit Version 1.1 by submitting their replacement card, will be eligible to receive an upgrade to Standard Edition, Extended Edition, or Programming Tools and Information Version 1.2 until December 31, 1989 and have the upgrade fee waived. Licence upgrades are not eligible for product rebates under the terms of the OS/2 Rebate Offering if a rebate was requested for the original Standard 1.1 or Extended 1.1 licence, or if the original Version 1.1 licence was acquired prior to May 9, 1989.

…on upgrades to DisOSS Version 3… Emphasising that IBM’s original enterprise-wide office system, the Distributed Office Support System, DisOSS, is not dead and buried by the brave new world of OfficeVision, there is a DisOSS Software Promotional Offering as an incentive to users to implement OfficeVision communications. It offers a waiver of the initial licence charge on DisOSS and a six-month waiver of the monthly licence charge – when DisOSS 3 is ordered on or before December 29, 1989, and is installed on or after May 16, 1989, and on or before September 28, 1990. Only new and/or additional basic licences to DisOSS 3 are eligible.

…on the OS/2 Office Feature… Getting even closer to home, IBM is offering an introductory 50% off the one-time charge for the OS/2 Office Feature of OfficeVision/2, to be available for three months from the date of availability of the OS/2 Office Feature of OfficeVision/2. It is not available to those who want it under their Volume Purchase Amendment/Special Bid discount.

…early OfficeVision/MVS, VM, AS 2… The big push that IBM is putting behind its array of new decision support offerings means that Application System is also included in an Office Software Migration Offering, which is designed to get people moving into the OfficeVision and Systems Application Architecture world. The Office Software Migration Offering provides special terms and conditions for early migration to OfficeVision and to Application System 2. It applies to customers migrating from Profs Version 2 to OfficeVision/VM, from Personal Services/CICS to OfficeVision/MVS, and from Application System 1 to Application System 2 within six months of the date of general availability of the new program. The special offer is either a waiver of upgrade charges or of four months’ monthly licence charges on the n

ew program.

…and to PS/CICS and Profs Version 2 And to get its MVS and VM mainframe users onto the right road for OfficeVision, IBM is also making an Office Software Promotional Offering of current System/370 office software that users acquire prior to availability of OfficeVision/VM and OfficeVision/MVS, which don’t arrive until the end of the year and next March. There is a waiver of the initial licence charge on Personal Services/CICS, and a 35% one-time charge discount on Personal Services/CICS and Profs Version 2. Customers who acquire, during the promotional period, a Personal Services/CICS-MVS or a Profs Version 2 licence for the first time in an establishment are also eligible, for the first basic licence in an establishment for DisplayWrite/370-MVS or VM and Application System Version 2, to a 20% discount on the one-time charge or a three-month waiver of the monthly licence charge on DisplayWrite/370-MVS or DisplayWrite/370-VM; and a 20% discount on the primary licence charge or a three-month waiver of the monthly licence charge on Application System Version 2. Customers who already have Personal Services/CICS-MVS or Profs Version 2 installed on a monthly licence charge basis who elect to convert to one-time charge for these programs during the promotional period are also eligible for the one-time charge discounts and special terms and conditions for DisplayWrite/370-MVS or VM and Application System Version 2 – but doesn’t that mean that those products won’t last for ever, and IBM will maximise its return on them with one-time rather than monthly licence charges? Customers who acquire, during the promotional period an Application Support Facility licence for the first time in an establishment are also eligible for a three-month waiver of the monthly licence charge. The offer applies to programs ordered by October 13, 1989 and installed on or after May 16, 1989, and on or before December 29, 1989, for one-time charge customers, and installed on or after May 16, 1989, and by March 30, 1990 for customers making monthly licence payments.