Chapter 15: A Plan Begins to Jell

Dan awoke as usual a few minutes before his alarm clock came to life, showered, shaved, dressed, and had two cups of coffee before heading out the door at fifteen minutes past eight. He carried a briefcase with several sheets of paper shorn from his Computer Shopper magazine and a plastic case with his installation disks for Lotus 1-2-3 and dBase III.

He arrived at work a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. and headed to his office. After the hubbub of students going to their first-period class, he pulled out the torn Computer Shopper pages and called the first of two retailers that purported to buy and sell used Apple computers. When a receptionist answered, he asked to be connected with the company’s sales manager. After a brief pause, a man answered the phone.

“This is Frank Basehart. How may I help You?”

“Hi Frank. My name is Dan, and I am the Academic Dean at PEMTI. We are a small business school and I’m looking to upgrade one of two labs from Apple IIe computers to PC compatibles. I was wondering whether you might be interested in either buying our 20 existing APPLE IIe computers with monitors, keyboards and mice or in a swap for new generic IBM-PC compatible systems. My needs are modest. I need a minimum of 256K RAM, one floppy disk drive and ideally a 10MB hard disk, monochrome monitors and keyboards. Is that something you could help me with?”

“We buy and sell the entire Apple line of used and refurbished computers, including the IIe computers, but we don’t deal in PCs at this time. But I can get the types of PC systems you need in exchange for the Apple IIe ones you have. I’d have to see them, of course, but if they’re in good working condition I can probably offer you a two-for-one swap, two Apple IIe computers for one PC generic clone in the configuration you need. Or I can buy the computers outright, probably for $250-300 each depending on condition.”

“Do you have any flexibility on price? Our computers are in perfect working order,  professionally maintained, and all are in daily use.”

“I might be able to go up to $325 per computer, depending on configuration and condition, but that’s the absolute best I could do.”

“All right, Frank. I appreciate your time. I’m still researching vendors and pricing, but I’ll get back to you if this seems workable for us. I have a very tight budget, so I really need to get as close to a one-to-one swap as I can. But I appreciate the basic information and will get back to you if this is something I can pursue.”

“Sure Dan, call me at any time.”

Dan hung up the phone with renewed hope. This was not ideal, but not too discouraging for a first attempt. He called the second number, and a man’s voice answered on the first ring.

“Joe speaking. How can I help you?”

Dan repeated the same information he’d given to Frank moments ago, and Joe responded that he could pay up to $350 for each Apple IIe computer system if in good condition or provide generic IBM-PC clones in turbo configurations with twice the speed of the original IBM PC for an even swap for 20 Apple IIe computers, though with dual floppy drives instead of a hard disk. A single floppy disk and a 10 MB hard disk would be $150 extra per computer." 

Dan thanked him and made an appointment for a meeting the following Monday for Joe to inspect the Apple IIe computers and bring a PC clone for Dan to examine. Although Dan intended to keep looking for a better deal with other suppliers, he knew that he was unlikely to find it as this was by far the lowest price for PC clones he’d ever seen and represented a great deal. He had called several textbook publishers the day before and verified that workbooks with bundled limited versions of the leading software packages on floppy disk were available for adoption at a reasonable cost. He had asked for desk copies of half a dozen of these titles that the publishers promised would be rushed to him.

With the pieces falling into place, Dan felt a surge of confidence about his ability to create the new certificate program. He called Marvin’s office, but the call went to voicemail, and he left a brief message telling Marvin that he needed to speak to him and asking him to call when he had some time today. Then he went to the transportable computer in his office and began loading his copy of Lotus 1-2-3 that he had brought from home to start creating a computerized record of his faculty’s credentials and prior teaching assignments to facilitate the scheduling of classes that would begin Monday. He had pre-planned the basic spreadsheet ahead of time the day before, but the process of creating the actual spreadsheet and then entering the required data was more onerous than he had thought, and he realized it was going to take him much more time than he could devote to the project since there was a great deal of data to enter. He nevertheless diligently pushed on, focused on the task at hand. The most critical portion of the spreadsheet needed for scheduling had to be completed by the end of the day or he would have to take it home with him to finish by working through the night if need be. He was startled by a knock on his door and pleased to see Marvin standing there when he opened it.

“Good morning, Dan. You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, Marvin. Good morning. Thanks for coming over,” Dan replied motioning for Marvin to take the chair in front of his desk and taking the chair at the small secondary desk himself where he had been working on the data entry.

“I needed to see you today anyway, Dan, as I forgot to tell you about the panic button in your office.”

“Panic button?” Dan queried, remembering Harold having mentioned it.

“Yes, let me show you,” Marvin said getting up and going around Dan’s desk, pulling his chair back and pushing it against the picture window while motioning for Dan to come over. “If you go down on one knee, you will see the red button mounted on the left side of your desk, easily accessible from your chair when you are sitting. If you press it, it will alert both building security and the local police precinct that is less than a quarter mile from here. In case of emergency, press the button and security guards will respond with guns drawn within two minutes, with police arriving soon thereafter.”

“Should I be comforted or scared out of my wits by this?” Dan asked, only half joking.

“It’s just a precaution, Dan. It’s been a while since we had any problem here requiring security to be called by a panic button, but you need to know that it’s there just in case, if only to make sure you don’t press it by mistake. I have one just like it under my desk and the receptionist has one also. If you ever see a situation you think may escalate to violence, press the button and know that security will respond very quickly.”

“I guess it’s good to know,” Dan replied. “Though it is also a bit disconcerting.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just an extra precaution to protect us and our students,” Marvin assured him. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?” he added, eager to change the conversation.

“I have what I hope is some good news I wanted to share about the short course I’m working on developing. First, I found a supplier who is willing to do an even swap of PC clones for the Apple IIe computers in one of the labs. We can get 20 computers at no cost with a one-year warranty. The specs are not ideal, but they will do: 256K RAM, dual floppy disks, keyboard and a monochrome monitor. The vendor will pick up the Apple computers and monitors and deliver the PCs at no additional cost. I’ve arranged a meeting on Monday sometime between 10:00 a.m. and noon for the vendor to examine our computers and verify they are in good working order. He will bring a PC clone sample for us to look at. I’d like you to be there if you’re available to evaluate the PC with me and to talk to the guy. His name is Joe.”

“Well, you sure move fast” Marvin said, smiling.

Dan was unsure if Marvin thought that to be a good or a bad thing, so he quickly added. “I made no commitments, of course, and intend to contact other vendors in the tri-state area before Monday, but I’ve got to tell you that I doubt very much anyone will match that deal. I’ve been keeping a very close eye on PC prices for some time and have not seen anything that comes close to a complete system for that price.”

“It sounds good, Dan, but I’ll have to talk to the Melameds before agreeing to anything. I know they’re really excited about your proposal, but they own all of the equipment and I can’t agree to any deals involving their sale or replacement without their approval.”

“Of course. I can reschedule the Monday meeting if needed” Dan said.

“I’ll call them today and get back to you. Let’s see how they react.”

“I also wanted you to know,” Dan added, “that I’ve contacted several textbook publishers and ordered desk copies for six different software and workbook bundles that they offer for courses on WordStar, WordPerfect, Paradox, dBase III and Lotus 1-2-3. Don’t worry, they’re free”

“You do move fast, Dan” Marvin noted with a chuckle and wide grin. “What’s the cost to us for the books and software?”

“Under forty dollars for each book which contains a limited version of the actual software program. The limitations include a banner embedded in every WordPerfect file and a one-line banner at the bottom of each page noting the software can only be used for educational purposes. Lotus 1-2-3 is limited to spreadsheets of not more than 250 rows and Paradox and dBase are limited in the number of records that they can contain. All of the software packages place a similar footer or header on each printed page about the software being licensed for educational use only.The limits are more than generous for learning purposes and the programs are otherwise full-featured and come free of charge with the books with no software license fees.” Dan looked at Marvin with an expectant smile, as he knew this was very good news.

“That’s great news,” Marvin said. “I did not know completely free software would be a possibility. And $40 per workbook is very reasonable--cheaper than many other course textbooks, actually. Nice work Dan.”

“I’ll need to see the books themselves. I expect to have them by Monday to try with the sample PC the vendor is bringing. They are being overnighted as I told them I need them here by 10:00 a.m. on Monday. Mr. Chang gave me the contact information for all the publishers’ sales reps, and they were very accommodating.”

“Let me go talk to the Melameds now. I did not expect so much progress in two months, let alone two days on the job. I still have serious doubts about State Ed approving the new program and courses, but this is still a remarkable start.” With that, Marvin rose from his chair again and moved to the door.

“Before you go, Marvin. I’m working on putting together a spreadsheet to track faculty performance and competencies. It would help if I could get some secretarial support as I’ll have the spreadsheet done pretty quickly, but the data entry process will take a lot longer than I had thought.”

“No problem Dan” Marvin replied as he walked to the door and opened it. “I’ll have Katie, our best part-time secretary, assigned to you permanently. I’ll ask Taisha to have her report to you until further notice today when she comes in at 1:00 p.m.”

“Thanks, Marvin. I really appreciate that.”

“Don’t mention it,” Marvin replied walking towards the door. “Katie’s a good kid and a hard worker. You’ll love her.” With that, Marvin was gone, ambling back to his office.

Dan went back to his spreadsheet and soon became immersed in his work once again. His phone startled him some time later. He went to his desk and picked it up.

“Hey Dan, it’s Bob. Are you ready for lunch?” Dan looked at his watch, surprised to learn it was already about a quarter to one. Time had simply flown by this morning.

“I’d love to but can’t right now. I have to wait for Katie who should be here around one and will need to brief her on some data entry I need her to do before I can leave.”

“How long do you think that will take?” Bob asked.

“About an hour or so, I think.”

“No problem, Dan. I’m working late tonight on some reports so we can go when you’re done.”

“Are you sure? That may not be until after two.”

“Absolutely,” Bob replied cheerfully. I have lots to do here too and the more I do now the less I’ll have to do later. Just come by when you can. There's no hurry.”

“Thanks, Bob. That sounds terrific. I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

“You bet. But remember, my treat today,” Bob he said, hanging up the phone.