Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpcea!hpda!hpcupt1!hpcuhb!hpsmtc1!kwallich
From: kwallich@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (Ken Wallich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: The cost of A/ux (Sticker Shock)
Message-ID: <11540141@hpsmtc1.HP.COM>
Date: 24 Feb 88 18:33:22 GMT
References: <11540137@hpsmtc1.HP.COM>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 74

>   > ... the MacII at list price is at the limit of my personal
>   >budget and AUX totally blows any hope away. 

(Frank Kuiper writes:)

>I think we are missing something here. 

I don't.

>I have been reading this net for some years now, 

As have I

>and I can't remember ever having seen debates on the
>possibilities of buying one's own unix-box.

Perhaps you haven't been reading the right news groups :-).  Granted this
is the first time there has been a discussion of buying an Apple
unix box, but then...

>Up 'till now, unix machines have always been purchased by the 
>company/institute someone is working for. 

Whoa, hold on a minute.  Here in the states we have had "Personal" unix
machines for several years now.  AT&T's unix machines may have been overpriced
for the power they provided, but they were cheeper than a MacII with A/UX.
There is also Xenix, which is kinda like unix for folks who can't afford
it.

>Now that a company brings out a unix version on what actually is a 
>large PC-type of machine, I read many complaints that it's to expensive.

Yes, and it is.  You'll also note that what we are mainly complaining about
is that the PARTS are overpriced, and that you cannot as yet just buy
A/UX.  $650 for a set of manuals (even at 6000+ pages, that's 10 cents
a page.  I can copy things at my local copy center in that volume cheeper
myself!), $3200 for A/UX on a hard disc (a $3200 hard disc), and currently
no tape distribution or support.


>    "This is the first time ever, that you are even close to buying a
>     unix machine for yourself, all beit still not a cheap one ..."

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  I could go out and buy myself a "unix" machine
today (a box, monitor, keyboard, disc, memory, serial ports, etc...)
for LESS than buying the "upgrade" to my MacII.  I have been able to
buy a "unix" machine for less than my MacII cost me for at least 3
years (albeit slower, and far less snazzy).  The point is we want the
additional features that A/UX supports, since we are already Mac fans,
however the additional goodies are not worth the astronomical price of
the CURRENT upgrade scheme.

From all the postings and documentation I've seen, I would guess that
Apple's NEXT release is gonna resolve most of our gripes, but they
should have tried there darndest to find an alternate way of doing
initial distribution.  One that takes into account all of us who
ALREADY configured our machines with enought memory and disc space
to use the software.  

I think most of us agree that the current release is under featured 
(no tape support?  Floppy backups?  HA!) and overpriced, but I am 
sure Apple at least knows the first, and probably has figured out 
the second.  Perhaps we can put this subject to bed until NEXT release,
then lambaste them for what they do wrong then :-) :-).

>Frank Kuiper, CWI, Amsterdam.                                         
>Internet: frankk@cwi.nl, frankk%cwi.nl@uunet.uu.

--------------------
Ken Wallich			*My views are mine, and mine alone*
Consultant			"No mystical energy field controls MY destiny"
DCI 				kwallich@hpsmtc1.HP.COM
@Hewlett Packard		...hplabs!hpsmtc1!kwallich

"If we weren't all crazy, we'd all go INSANE"