Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!apple!vsi1!zorch!xanthian From: xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: VPI Selects Commodore For Unix Platform Message-ID: <1990Aug25.170311.3101@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Date: 25 Aug 90 17:03:11 GMT References: <4083@crash.cts.com> <13985@cbmvax.commodore.com> Organization: SF Bay Public-Access Unix Lines: 32 diamond@cbmvax (Howard Diamond - Ed Marketing) writes: > vle@pnet01.cts.com (Vinh Le) writes: >>Will other university students be offered systems similar to the ones offered >>at VPI? At around the same price? Do these systems also run AmigaDOS 2.0, or >>are they strictly UNIX? >I keep answering this, but I'll try again. The VPI deal is a part of our beta >process. Just wanted to comment about this part. This can be an _excellent_ deal for a vendor, and is well worth cutting a one time deal that wouldn't be affordable in the long term. Back in the dark ages, my first UNC computer science class were part of the beta release testers for IBM's PL/1 compiler releases. Nobody can beat on a compiler like a bunch of students, and we were required to _prove_ that things that wouldn't work right were the compiler's fault, not our bugs, and to write up bug reports and minimal programs showing those bugs, as part of the beta deal. This was an excellent deal for all concerned; we students learned not to give unbridled trust to compilers, and to really use .asm dumps for debugging aids; the vendor got lots more input and testing of "most frequently used" code than an in-house QA could have afforded to do; i.e., free labor. Moral: don't feel hurt if the VPI prices don't hold later, Commodore is getting a lot out of this deal to compensate for selling the hardware at a low profit margin. Kent, the man from xanth.