Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pcserver2!kdenning
From: kdenning@pcserver2.naitc.com (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Wet Dream or ...
Summary: SCO and their part in this
Message-ID: <1991Apr12.151301.27159@pcserver2.naitc.com>
Date: 12 Apr 91 15:13:01 GMT
References: <13964@adobe.UUCP> <1991Apr11.184136.10324@news.iastate.edu>
Distribution: na
Organization: AC Nielsen, Bannockburn IL USA
Lines: 48

In article <1991Apr11.184136.10324@news.iastate.edu> john@iastate.edu (Hascall John Paul) writes:
>In article <13964@adobe.UUCP> lemery@adobe.COM () writes:
>}A couple of days ago, a consortium of companies (Microsoft, MIPS,
>}DEC, SCO, and others) announced they would be supporting a new
>}standard high performance PC/workstation to compete against the
>}high end Intel-based products.
>}Operating systems would be either OS/3 or Unix based. 
>}No other information was available in the article. 
>}If you have any information about this new effort, would you
>}please share it.
>
>   There is an article in the 8 Apr 91 "Digital Review" on page 1
>entitled "Consortium seeks to extinguish Sparc".

I have reasonably reliable information that SCO Unix will be dead as of
December of this year.  It's being replaced.

The replacement?  OSF/1!  

I have always hated SCO's 3.2 implementation.  OSF/1, on the other hand,
looks like a dream to me.  A darn good dream.

While I have had my share of complaints with SCO in the last couple of
years, this could be the piece that redeems them -- at least in my eyes --
especially if they (1) sell it at a reasonable price, (2) don't cripple the
thing, and (3) get that flipping "Secureware" nonsense out of the kernel or
at least make it an option.

This, coupled with hardware based on the MIPS R3000 and R4000 chips could
make a serious dent in the Sun installed base.  If these firms back it up
with world-class support, they have a heck of a shot at being successful
here.  The hardware level part (R3000 chipsets) are already fantastic --
look at the performance available from a MIPS Magnum, for example -- on a
price-performance level it's a darn nice system.  Add to that OSF/1's 
functionality and a great support organization (which is dedicated to a 
great product rather than seeing how much money they can make) and you've 
got the potential to do some real damage to the Sun empire.

NONE of this is official -- and none of it is from the horse's mouth.  Take
it with whatever size grains of salt you wish.

--
Karl Denninger - AC Nielsen, Bannockburn IL (708) 317-3285
kdenning@nis.naitc.com

"The most dangerous command on any computer is the carriage return."
Disclaimer:  The opinions here are solely mine and may or may not reflect
  	     those of the company.