Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!jon
From: jon@mtxinu.COM (jon hale)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: Mach from mt Xinu
Message-ID: <1991Mar5.232240.19264@mtxinu.COM>
Date: 5 Mar 91 23:22:40 GMT
References: <3312@sixhub.UUCP> <1991Feb28.201150.18587@mtxinu.COM> <6641@saffron1.UUCP>
Reply-To: jon@mtxinu.UUCP (Jon Hale)
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley
Lines: 58

In article <6641@saffron1.UUCP> benyukhi@motcid.UUCP (Ed Benyukhis) writes:
>In article <1991Feb28.201150.18587@mtxinu.COM>, jon@mtxinu.COM (jon hale) writes:
>> In article <3312@sixhub.UUCP> davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
>> >
>> >  Also note that for $500/year they will give you the same support
>> >(dial-in uucp fixes) that SCO offers for free.
>> 
>> Well, you can try dialing SCO, but I doubt if their fixes will work 
>> on our system :^) .
>
>They will not ... But this is a competitive environment, which is
>what Bill meant to say by his comment.  If you plan to compete
>with SCO, ISC, and ESIX, you better shape up and attempt to provide
>similar level(s) of service.
> [ ......]
>Have fun with your marketing attempts.  I do not think that I will
>be buying it in the near future.  Nor will I recommend this product
>to anyone (unless it is distributed FREE of charge).
>
>Edward Benyukhis, Motorola, CID.
>(708)632-6624

Ed and Bill,
	I get the impression from reading your mail that you feel that
mt Xinu is a rip-off company just out to make a quick buck. This is really
not the case. We have been providing supported Berkeley UNIX on a variety
of hardware platforms for the past seven years. We have built our reputation
doing just that.

	You also seem to feel that we are competing with the 
system V vendors out there.  We are not, our Mach386 product provides
both MACH as well as 4.3BSD to the 386 world.

	We DO NOT:
		provide binary compatible with system V systems.
		provide DOS compatibility (or emulation).
		have off-the-shelf applications ready to run.
	We DO:
		provide full source compatibility with 4.3BSD.
		provide full MACH functionality.
		have the full set of BSD utilities.

	We realize that many people are interested in the features that
we do not provide. That is fine, we are not trying to pretend to
be something that we are not.
	But, there exists a community (primarily researchers
and programmers) where BSD and MACH are very important. There is, in
fact, active interest in our product.
	We do not expect to do the volume business that the system V 
UNIX's will be doing. As with everything else, in our businesses there
are economies of scale. They will be doing a lot more volume and 
will be able to afford charging lower prices.
	This does not make us ripoff artists. If we could not charge
the prices we do, we would not be able to afford to provide our services, 
and a lot of people do see it as a service.

Sincerely,
	jon hale