At 12:51 PM 9/8/01 -0500, Eric wrote:
 Do you mean you are worried the Hobbyist program
will go away?
Eric Dittman 
 No, I _know_ the Hobbyist program will go away. People like HP and Compaq
 are starting to layoff people who they actually still have a use for in
 order to cut costs. What's the ROI on the Hobbyist program? Zilch! So it
 gives them some good press but it also causes their operations folks to get
 calls from folks who are trying to find spares for machines they never
 heard of. So they will kill it, I just hope they give out lifetime PAKs
 before they do. 
Compaq authorizes the Hobbyist program, but they don't do much else.  They
don't pay to maintain the program, they don't give away the distributions,
they don't provide the PAKs.  I don't think the Hobbyist program costs
Compaq more than a minimal amount.
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at 
http://www.dittman.net/