Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!benoni
From: benoni@ssc-vax.UUCP (Charles L Ditzel)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.news
Subject: Re: NeWS on non-Sun hardware?
Message-ID: <1662@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: 5 Feb 88 08:00:34 GMT
References: <3a06a194.c32@apollo.uucp> <1652@ssc-vax.UUCP> <3a15b3ba.c82a@apollo.uucp>
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Corp., Seattle WA
Lines: 56

In article <3a15b3ba.c82a@apollo.uucp>, ganek@apollo.uucp (Dan Ganek) writes:
> 
> I probably shouldn't do this --  but every once in awhile I get a little 
> upset at the Apollo bashing. 

It had very little to do with Apollo bashing.  Actually you are
making the very same case I made.  (You have 60 seconds to figure
out what that case was ?..tick tick...)

> Some facts (or approximations thereof):
> 1) Apollo was founded in Feb, 1980
> 2) Apollo shipped its first workstation and window system in March, 1981.
> 3) Neither CGI, Sun, nor the PC market existed in 1980.
> 4) Ethernet was not a (de facto) standard in 1980.

(that case was...)

You are making a good case that your machines have evolved little 
since 1980 and I agree.  The difference between then and now is
you currently offer a kludgy dysfunctional form of Unix emulation
and flawed tcp/ip ethernet connectivity. (9.7 is even worse than
9.6 with respect to tcp/ip).  

> 5) UNIX was barely out of the university in 1980 and had 
>    little in the way of modern OS facilities. (still doesn't)

Unix existed and was being licensed by AT&T at a reduced single-
user cost (the year of the user license markdown was '79).
I couldn't help noticing the Adus announcement that Aegis development
had stopped despite its "modern OS facilities" and that Apollo was 
concentrating on Unix etc ...
     
> Apollo chose the BEST TECHNOLOGIES OF THE TIME (1980), improved
> many of them (like UNIX). 

matter of opinion.  (like your 'acl' command which if handled wrong
can destroy you hard disk?? The net toll on that was 2...though I
suspect it is much higher. :) That one was in version 9.5 which
you released in mid-1987! )  From my view Unix has rolled on
past Aegis.  Its a dead issue.

 
> 1) go with a standard and hope that something better DOESN'T 
>    become a standard 
If someone comes out with a better standard then it makes some sense 
to offer that standard...Note for example, unlike Apollo, Sun
offers NeWS *and* X.

> 2) go with the new and bet that IT will become the standard.
How *could* Aegis, domain ring technology, GPR, etc become a
standard.  These things were all proprietary technology from
Apollo.  Notice that Sun is licensing NeWS, SunOS, SPARC etc.
Let's face it Apollo was dragged kicking and screaming (by
the marketplace) into at least coining the phrase "open systems."

But enough of this.  Back to NeWS.