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From: roberts@cognos.uucp (Robert Stanley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: PowerHouse for the Mac?
Message-ID: <1419@cognos.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Sep-87 08:25:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: cognos.1419
Posted: Thu Sep 10 08:25:26 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Sep-87 11:08:21 EDT
References: <1382@cognos.UUCP> <11540014@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> <20545@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: roberts@cognos.UUCP (Robert Stanley)
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 49
Summary: PowerHouse is not for the Mac

In article <20545@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP
				       (David Phillip Oster) writes:
>In article <11540014@hpsmtc1.HP.COM> david@hpsmtc1.HP.COM
				      (David Williams) writes:
>>Robert, great message...now when will we see Powerhouse on the Mac???

>What is powerHouse?  The only PowerHouse I know of is X-10 PowerHouse,
>the program that lets you control common household appliances from
>your Mac. It's been out for about a year now.

Please, before we start, can we not carry this one off into an endless
discussion, mainly because I do NOT speak officially for Cognos.

PowerHouse is a fourth generation programming language (4GL) for development
and execution of reasonably standard commercial data-processing applications.
It is now nearly eight years old, but has evolved steadily from its origins
on the HP-3000/MPE systems.  It now runs on VAX/VMS and under AOS on DG
systems, and the latest releases offer full relational database support.  It is
very definitely aimed at corporate data-processing, and is limited at present
to the mini-computer world.  Earlier this year we announced our 8,000th copy
sold, or maybe it was customer (I don't know that stuff, although I should).

Since David Williams works for HP (I deduce, perhaps erroneously, from the
origin of his posting), I assumed that his reply to me was a tongue-in-cheek
dig at Cognos, who have to date announced but not released a PC-based version
of PowerHouse.  Although I am not involved in the PC project, I am fairly
(but unofficially) certain that PowerHouse on a PC will only be a satellite to
mini-based host systems, and not a stand-alone system.  Cognos has made no
announcement of a Macintosh-based version of the product.

I work for the research group at Cognos, where my mandate lies in the fields
of human interfaces and artificial intelligence.  I have astonishingly little
to do with our current products, and am not at liberty to discuss unannounced
products.  I am NOT an official spokesman for Cognos, but I can pass enquiries
to someone who is, or can get an offical statement if one is needed.  You may
make what you will of the fact that I own a Lisa, and that Cognos clearly has
Macintoshes on strength.

From this evening I shall be away for nearly four weeks of glorious vacation
to celebrate the wrapping up of two heavy-duty projects, and I do not intend
to be close to electricity until I get back.  Please hold enquiries until
October, and direct flames to /dev/null.

Thanks.
-- 
Robert Stanley           Cognos Incorporated     S-mail: P.O. Box 9707
Voice: (613) 738-1440 (Research: there are 2!)           3755 Riverside Drive 
  FAX: (613) 738-0002    Compuserve: 76174,3024          Ottawa, Ontario 
 uucp: decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts          CANADA  K1G 3Z4