Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!samsung!rex!ames!ncar!ico!rcd
From: rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: ISC update
Summary: cheap shots again
Keywords: ISC
Message-ID: <1989Dec31.075246.4355@ico.isc.com>
Date: 31 Dec 89 07:52:46 GMT
References: <511090@nstar.UUCP> <10732@attctc.Dallas.TX.US> <1989Dec29.033057.10673@jdyx.UUCP>
Organization: Interactive Systems Corporation, Boulder, CO
Lines: 47

cassidy@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Cassidy Lynar) wrote:
>	Humph! Why spend 800.00 on X11 when you can get the sources and build
>it yourself? ISC has a wonderful ability to take free sources, hack and screw
>it up, then turn around and charge you a great deal of money for it.

I think other folks covered most of this one - assuming you want a working
server for your display on a 386 box, it's a lot more work than just
rebuilding it.

But on the other side, tpf@jdyx.UUCP (Tom Friedel) writes:
> I've been told that ISC spent over 1 million on the X-port,...

Red herring.  What's the $1M cover?  Just the engineering work, or also all
of the associated product work (marketing, sales, packaging, etc.)?  And
what is "the X-port"?  Ain't no such thing _per_se_; there are lots of
pieces and it's still going on (because people keep coming out with new
displays and adapters).  It's not as if they just did one server and quit.

>...and that it
> took GSS (another company) 11 man years.  These are excessive
> as our companies 386/Unix graphics package started as an X port that
> was > 1/2 way done in < 1 man year...

OK, half done in less than a man year...by the typical rule, the remaining
half of the work will take 80% of the total time, so you're in the 4 man-
year range for the project.

My turn to appeal to anonymous authority - "I've been told that ISC" had
the output side of the first server working in under two weeks.  And my
source is reliable on this one.  Moreover, ISC did not just *one* port but
many, to accommodate many adapters and monitors...I should know; my office-
mate's half of the office has looked like Discount Dan's Monitor City for
about a year, and he's not the only one working on the stuff.

In other words, if you pretend to say what's "excessive" cost for a
project without knowing anything about what it involves, you're in left
field.

> What other free sources has ISC hacked on and sold?

I'd really like to give this the flame it deserves, but I can't.  I'll just
note that what ISC is selling is a large chunk of code developed in-house.
It may not be that much work to get a generic server working, but getting
something that works well, and fast, is another story.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd@ico.isc.com    uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd     (303)449-2870
   ...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."