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FirstClass Deal Clarification

Maury Markowitz of SoftArc writes:

I saw the note about the FirstClass upgrade in TidBITS-157. I’d like to clarify my poorly written CompuServe statement.

SoftArc has two pricing schemes for FirstClass. The price list is for our corporate customers, who make up the majority of our business. We also have a series of "BBS Specials" for those people who want to set up a truly public BBS – free access etc. The BBS Specials are less expensive overall, and include the command-line interface for VT100 access. The prices for these systems (all of which include all manuals, a hardware-handshaking cable, two network users and two ports) are:

     250 user system:  $295
     500 user system:  $395
     1000 user system: $495

We offer the upgrade deal for both price lists, with a twist. If you are purchasing a system from our commercial price list, you get $100 off – right off the top. If you are purchasing a BBS Special, you get the "next largest system". In other words, a 500 user system will cost $295 with the trade in, and the 1000 user system is $395.

The upgrade path is available for TeleFinder and Novalink Pro users, and we’ve recently added Second Site. Due to the success of the program, we have considered similar upgrades for TBBS and PCBoard when we release our Windows interface (Real Soon Now). We do not offer such a trade in for Hermes as the licence is not transferable.

I should also take this time to note that we have been able to up the volume on some items, and have therefore lowered prices on these items. Effective for the last two months, the price of the Multiport Upgrade Package (consisting of a four port Hurdler card, four cables and a four port licence upgrade) is now $695, down from $895 for our BBS users. A new supplier of cables has lowered the price of our Carrier Detecting Hardware Handshake cables to $25, down from $35, and we will also sell these in lots of 10 or more for $15 per cable.

Finally, I’d like to mention that with the release of Michael Connick’s FirstClass FidoNet gateway just recently, I have been able to put our support BBS, SoftArc Online, onto the FidoNet. We will now happily accept mail at the following addresses:

     sales, SoftArc Online         OneNet
     Maury Markowitz@1:250/250     FidoNet
     [email protected]    Internet
     70511,2065                    CompuServe
     SoftArc                       America Online

Information from:
Maury Markowitz — [email protected]

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