I understand "spirit", and again, I'd agree it would be foolish to accept the "free technical" upgrade without having some assistance, but trust me, I know personally of clients that have consulting relationships with other BP's or independants, that are in the midst of getting "NOW"'d, and paid for no additional PSFT consulting time.
My point was again, if you want it done and don't want consulting time, you should be warned and beat over the head, but you shouldn't be REQUIRED to purchase any additional time. I have not heard of anyone being 'turned down' because they didn't wish to purchase additional consulting services.
I would agree with the CE who told you about the "spirit", because realistically, anyone going from XE/ERP 8.0 should be getting assistance if migrating to 8.10, especially for coexistence clients trying to break it. And the CE isn't going to get much for any NOW deal if it doesn't have additional stuff tacked on.
I believe the real intent is simply, the NOW program offers a "FREE" technical upgrade, and that pesky word free is the kicker. When you look at an upgrade project, the activities and work that the 'free' part of the NOW project gives you is about 10% at best. The CE is in CYA mode, because if you think free upgrade means that you'll be movin' and groovin' in production in 8.10 for 'free', you will be a very disgruntled client.
But really, in the long run, it would only make sense for PSFT to allow NOW upgrades without purchasing additional consulting time. A. Many clients will realize they need additional assistance and get it from some source, possibly PSFT B. Which do you think PSFT would rather have, an XE client who stops paying maintenance, or a client that got a "free" upgrade but will pay for 8.10 maintenance?
Anyhoo, I'll get off my soapbox, but I just wanted peeps to know that regardless of "spirit", or "intent", or your CE doesn't want to deal with paperwork if he/she isn't getting anything from it, there are clients getting NOW'd without additional PSFT consulting fees. Again, anyone trying to upgrade to 8.10 without assistance from someone, I think is going down a rough path, in my opinion. And since PSFT has a vested interest in your upgrade success, that could be why you're getting pushed.
Regards,