Xref: utzoo comp.unix.i386:8447 comp.unix.sysv386:104 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!tuvie!iiasa!wnp From: wnp@iiasa.AT (wolf paul) Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386,comp.unix.sysv386 Subject: Re: Does Microport offer Updates to its users? Message-ID: <881@iiasa.UUCP> Date: 5 Sep 90 12:20:38 GMT References: <846@iiasa.UUCP> <847@iiasa.UUCP> <10615@rls.UUCP> <334@uport.UUCP> <723@vidiot.UUCP> <1737@ssbn.WLK.COM> <1990Sep3.211648.7721@maths.tcd.ie> Reply-To: wnp@iiasa.UUCP (wolf paul) Organization: IIASA, Laxenburg/Vienna, Austria, Europe Lines: 32 In article <1990Sep3.211648.7721@maths.tcd.ie> tim@maths.tcd.ie (Timothy Murphy) writes: >In <1737@ssbn.WLK.COM> bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy) writes: > > (Bill's comments on Microport deleted -- suffice it to say that > they were not very complimentary. -wnp) > >This is ridiculously unfair. >I've been running Microport Unix V/386 for a couple of years now, >and feel it's a pretty good product -- certainly for the price. >It's not the best Unix I've seen, but it's not the worst either. > ... >Microport is the nearest I've seen to a really cheap home Unix system. But that is exactly where the problem lies: Bill does not use UNIX as a cheap home system, but to conduct a business, which makes reliability and expert support somewhat more crucial. And Microport did not advertise their products as "cheap home systems." I have used Microport's 286 product for five years to run a typesetting operation in six different languages, and have used their 386 product as a home system, and have been reasonably satisfied; but then I didn't use the standard PC com ports, but an intelligent six-port card with third-party drivers, and I didn't do much software development: it was in these two areas that the 286 product stank most: serial drivers, and the C compiler. The serial port problem continued right on into the 386 product. If I had had to rely on either of these, I might share Bill's opinion. -- Wolf N. Paul, IIASA, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa.at!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa.at@uunet.uu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET * * * * Kurt Waldheim for President (of Mars, of course!) * * * *