Going OT [Was: Re: Replacing PBXes with Open Source]

[bmcculley at rcn.com]

Jon maddog Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote:

>macfisherman at gmail.com said:
>> Also off-topic, but how is SoftPro doing? Since they've 
>> moved I've been there maybe once.
[...snip...]

>I read an article by Tim O'Reilly on SoftPRO's web site 
>that talked about going to a bookstore for use as a 
>library, then buying online.....he (of course) condemned 
>it.   I feel much the same way.....so when I thought about 
>Asterisk some more, instead of buying it from Amazon 
>I called up SoftPRO and had them mail me the book.
>
>If I see it online, read the review online, then I buy it 
>online.....but if I see it in the store (especially a 
>specialty store like SoftPRO), then I buy it there.

Tip for NH residents especially, Softpro has (or used to have)
fairly good policy on shipping costs.  It used to work out
that it would be cheaper for me to call and have my order
shipped if it was over a hundred bucks (easy hurdle, alas!)
because it saved me the MA sales tax when it was shipped to
NH.  The actual hurdle might've been less, but that was the
easily remembered value I used for the decision to defer
instant gratification when I made selections browsing.

Incidentally, I routinely check SoftPro's website when
browsing online as an alternative to the Amazon/Borders
megamerchants.  It's good to support the local
service-oriented merchants as much as possible so I'd rather
use them if the price penalty is not too great.  Their
shipping policy and performance make that an easy pill to
swallow for me.  ymmv.

-Bruce McCulley