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From: dan@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Daniel Freedman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: reason to buy Apollos
Message-ID: <1990Jul26.144525.18310@calgary.uucp>
Date: 26 Jul 90 14:45:25 GMT
References: <9007070357.AA00259@zeus.WRI.com> <4bcb9e82a.0017b5e@caen.engin.umich.edu>
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Reply-To: dan@cs-sun-fsd.UUCP (Daniel Freedman)
Organization: U. of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Lines: 41

In article <4bcb9e82a.0017b5e@caen.engin.umich.edu> paul@CAEN.ENGIN.UMICH.EDU (paul killey) writes:
>
>	
>	
>	The question of "Why would anyone buy an Apollo" is like asking
>"Why would anyone
>	buy a Ford?" 
>
>That, or "why would anyone buy a betamax?"


I think you have hit the nail on the head.  It *used* to  be a case of
real  differences between Apollo's machines and   others,  in terms of
networking options, performance, s/w reliability, o/s features, and so
on.   Now, since the  functionality of o/s's  is essentially the same,
(in other words since the differences no longer affect what you can or
can't do with the machines) its  all a question of performance, price,
and degree  of standardness.  The only  exception  to this is when the
software  that you want  only runs  on company xyz's machine, in which
case your choice is more or less made  for you.  However, ask yourself
where you see companies concentrating their s/w development efforts in
terms of  machines.  Can you think of  anyone who  is saying "Nope, we
are going to ignore Suns,  and develop only on  Apollos."  I can think
of some companies who  are doing the same  thing in reverse.   If your
company has  done    some  in   house  s/w  development   on  Apollos,
particularly if you have used  proprietary stuff  like d3m, gmr, dsee,
and so on, you are stuck.  You either have to buy Apollos, or invest a
whole lot of money porting the stuff to standard tools.

Someone who has 1500 beta tapes would likely buy a betamax machine, to
protect his investment.   Supposedly, beta is  better quality  anyway.
But, people buying  new machines want vhs  despite the  lower quality,
since the selection of  tapes available  is  far  far greater.  Yes, I
like your analogy.

	Dan Freedman


U. of Calgary Computer Science Dept.,                             403 220-7299
2500 University Dr. N.W.,                                 dan@cpsc.ucalgary.ca
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. T2N 1N4