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From: sdyer@bbnccv.UUCP (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.att
Subject: Re: AT&T UNIX 7300 PC
Message-ID: <488@bbnccv.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-May-85 01:35:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: bbnccv.488
Posted: Thu May 16 01:35:49 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 16-May-85 22:28:26 EDT
References: <575@hou2e.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 23

I had the opportunity to play with a UNIX PC this evening, and for the
life of me, I cannot figure out what our friend from TimeInc is complaining
about.  The machine I was using was a 1mb/20mb machine, and it was really
quite speedy, especialy considering the price and the type of hard disk
it used.  It isn't a VAX780, but again it's anywhere from 1/25 to 1/50th the
price of a 780!  And, for God's sake, it's a PC; while it can accomodate
more users, it really shines best as a single-user, multi-process machine.
The only disappointment I felt was its VT100-emulation window, which, when
using the modem at 1200 baud was just plain pokey--just like using "cu"
on a VAX, you can see the scheduler's behavior.

IBM comes out with a watered-up version of its PC, and people are oohing
and ahhing over it, while for the same price, AT&T comes out with something
which really does redefine the "standard" for price/performance, even at
its list price, and all you hear are complaints.  I think this bellyaching
reflects how spoiled people are by their present mainframe UNIX systems,
and not at all on AT&T's achievement.  Now, if they ever come out with
their PC-compatibility board (market considerations being what they are)
it will truly be most things to most people!
-- 
/Steve Dyer
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