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From: allbery@ncoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Why unix doesn't catch on
Message-ID: <13596@ncoast.ORG>
Date: 22 Apr 89 01:25:40 GMT
References: <7697@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <258@jwt.UUCP>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery)
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh
Lines: 44

As quoted from <258@jwt.UUCP> by john@jwt.UUCP (John Temples):
+---------------
| Now that Microport appears to be defunct, I wonder how WordPerfect Corp. feels
| about entering the 386 Unix market.  Will this frighten off other prospective
| Unix developers like Lotus?  I suppose Unix will survive through it all, but
| can it succeed commercially?
+---------------

Why not?  You seem to think that the demise of Microport signals the demise
of 386 Unix; may I point out that with the number of companies selling 386
Unix (SCO, Interactive and AT&T, and formerly Microport, not to mention left-
field types) there are more than the market really needs.  It's unsurprising
that the companies which can't cut it fall by the wayside.  Nor is it
surprising to me that Microport was the first, given that they have acquired
a reputation for buggy systems.  (Well, systems with more experimental parts
than should be in a supposed production system.)  Of such parts are made a
free-market system.  (Not that people used to a Microsoft monopoly on the OS
would expect such things.  But on the other hand, it means that Microsoft
doesn't have an incentive to make things work better... until a competitor
does come along.  Maybe you'll be lucky and Unix will convince Microsoft to
put some thought into making OS/2 halfway reasonable; or maybe they'll pull
an AT&T and wilt.  [Explanation:  it's pretty well accepted that AT&T's
computer division collapsed when they suddenly found themselves having to
compete for a market.])

(On re-reading the above, it occurs to me that it looks a bit like a flame
of Unix detractors.  But if you'll think about it, you'll realize that it
cannot help but affect the situation that the only real competitor to MS-DOS
came out too late to have any effect.  Unix benefits from the competition in
the 386 market, just as it's getting a much-needed shake-up on a more
inclusive level from the competition between the OSF and UI.  And both Unix
*and* OS/2 will benefit from competition between them.)

WordPerfect Corp. sells not only a Microport version of WP 4.2, but also an
SCO Xenix version.  (And the "A"-word, which I'm sure you can guess by now...
;-) I'd guess that the SCO version sold better than the Microport version
anyway.  If WordPerfect wants the market, it'll release a 386/IX version of
WP; it wouldn't take much work to change the Microport one.  (The biggest
win of Unix is that this is so often true.)
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery, moderator of comp.sources.misc	     allbery@ncoast.org
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