According to Jon Campbell, manager of press relations for TI's consumer group, this open-ended service policy extends not only to the console but to all TI peripherals, cards and software. Citing TI's service policies regarding other discontinued items, including watches and calculators, Campbellsaid, 'we'llcontinuetomaintain our repair facilities for out-of- warranty repairs. He noted that users in need of service may continue to send the units to the Lubbock repair facility as has been done in the past. Repairs to out-of-warranty items will be billed to the user. Consoles come with a one year warranty while other hardware and software items come with a 90-day warranty. There is no charge for repairs made during the warranty period. Campbell says the company continues to service and repair calculators that are 10 years old. Although TI stopped producing watches three years ago, he notes, service is still provided for them.

As of mid-December, he said, TI was still producing consoles to meet contractual obligations. TI stopped taking new orders on the consoles when it announced that it was leaving the home computer business. As of December, however, Campbell says, "we haven't ceased manufacturing software." Although TI will not continue to produce software for a significant length of time, Campbell says, TI is engaged in negotiations with numerous companies interested in taking over production of the software.

The plan is to eventually get rid of it,' Campbell says of software production. "We're making every attempt to get other vendors to continue to produce software before we l)hase out of it.'' He notes that about two-thirds of TI software was created by third party developers, and they are being offered the first shot at receiving the production rights from TI. As for TI's toll-free telephone number-800-TI-CARES--Campbell says the company has no intention of discontinuing it. It's now operating six days a week, he says, and everyone who has ever worked on the line for TI has been called back to staff it. It's pretty well swamped with People wanting reassurance, Campbell says.

The toll-free line is not designed exclusively for home computer users. Campbell says. It's also used by purchasers of calculators and other items sold by TI. Asked about a bid by the International 99/4 Users Group to take over the toll-free number, Campbell said, 'they've talked to us about it."

While Campbell maintains that TI isn't going to abandon users, it's apparent that the network of user groups that TI helped establish has been orphaned by the company. Campbell indicated that the company will no longer offer support to the user groups, and said that he is not aware of any plans to provide a final "wrap up. Several user groups have told Home Computer Compendium that they have not been able to get in touch with TI's user group coordinator since November.

At this point, there is little information available about the availability of particular software titles, though supplies of most cartridges seem to be plentiful. Hardware availability is another matter. There are virtually no peripheral expansion boxes remaining on dealers' shelves. However, peripheral cards are still obtainable.

The new TI service policies do not appear to be significantly different from those of the past. The most fundamental change is in the elimination of an exchange policy, whereby users could take defective units to one of TI's exchange centers and receive a new or reconditioned unit. This service was provided without charge if the unit was still in warranty or at a relatively modest charge if out of warranty.

Campbell estimates that users can expect to wait an average of two weeks for repairs to be made. Software service will be handled in the same way as hardware service at this point. Once contracts with third party vendors have been signed, the vendors will be expected to provide service for the software. TImanufactured software carries a three-month warranty from the date of purchase. Third party negotiations seem to be concentrating on applications software. JK