Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpsmtc1!dlw
From: dlw@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (David Williams)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: Re: What is the official availability status of A/UX
Message-ID: <17280001@hpsmtc1.HP.COM>
Date: 4 Apr 88 23:46:50 GMT
References: <399@dragos.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 41

But wait it gets even better!

If you are a certified developer you certainly can order and get an AUX system
however, you must obtain *UPDATES* from an A/UX dealer! So, lets see, I order
A/UX, but find that X Windows does not come with A/UX yet...well I guess I 
could get it on the update tape, but wait...I can't order the update service!

Then of course there is the *On-line* support which only costs a *MERE $3395*
a *YEAR!!!!!*. (Of course individuals will not be buying this, as they could
just as soon buy a new 386 box each year and put Xenix on it.)  At this point
I am even afraid to ask how much the update service costs!! Not that you can
get that either. 

Frankly, this just puts A/UX in the category of marketing trojan horse to get
Mac II's into government and fortune 200 corporations.  They obviously do not
want INDIVIDUALS buying A/UX. Does the Mac run Un*x? Why of course Mr checklist
it does! But, you just can't *BUY* A/UX. Certainly not in California, the home
of Apple.  A/UX is not intended to be a true alternative OS for the Mac, it is
merely there along with MS/DOS coprocessor cards to make it past the checklist
for required features for a computer. They obviously want to make sales to
the military, the government and universities, not individuals. Of course, this
only makes sense, apple really wants people tied to their proprietary OS not 
one which would be easy to move from one hardware platform to another.

So I guess Apples new motto should be:

Apple, we want to change the world, one CORPORATE desktop at a time.

So, buy the Mac II if you want a faster, *COLOR* Macintosh, not a Un*x 
workstation as well, cause if you are not in big business you will not be able
to afford it!

And I guess that we will all have to wait for Sun to announce shipment of
the Roadrunner and for Steve Job's to do the same for the NeXt machine, if we
want a real Un*x box.  Then we'll get Un*x, X and NeWs.

-David
Disclaimer: My personal opinions here, for what they are worth.
"And So friends we bid Apple a fond farewell, as they steam off into the
 Sunset with visions of huge corporate sales dancing in their heads, while
 their original users are cast off and slowly drift toward other manufacturers"