Bob Ripley, marketing vice-president at Toronto, Canada-based Consensys Corp, claims that X/Open Co Ltd has taken to running a software protection racket. His complaint, which he says he took to X/Open itself, stems from what he considers exorbitant fees it is charging for the Spec 1170 test suites it commissioned ApTest Inc to design. According to X/Open’s latest pricing schedule, he says, a company has to buy not only the Spec 1170 test suites but the XPG3 suite that Spec 1170 will replace. Those two bills come to $20,000 each. Then there’s a year’s worth of support – $9,000 to $9,500. And if you want to have a say in what’s going on and join the beta test programme, that’s another $20,000 to $25,000. Ripley, who says it is now a big company game, claims X/Open could not deny his charges.
