Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!convex!swarren From: swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: bah ha ha ha! Message-ID: <-1773786462@convex.convex.com> Date: 14 Feb 90 15:58:47 GMT References: <90042.132253GIAMPAL@AUVM.BITNET> Sender: news@convex.com Organization: Convex Computer Corporation; Richardson, TX Lines: 46 In article <90042.132253GIAMPAL@AUVM.BITNET> GIAMPAL@AUVM.BITNET writes: > >In article , >portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi) says: >> >>From the 2/6 San Francisco Chronicle, Business section, without >>permission: >>Apple Computer Inc.'s largest sale to the federal government could be >>reversed in the wake of a General Accounting Office ruling that >> ... (stuff deleted) >>system did not adequately meet the Air Force's requirements for >>capability called "multitasking" -- the ability for a PC to perform > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - does this mean the Amiga is about to >get a massive boost in the federal government arena? Boy oh boy, if Mr. >Copperman pushes the Amiga on this sale, phewie! That would be one heckuva >push for the 'ole amy. > I wonder what will happen.... >--dominic As near as I can tell from reading the article in EE Times, the GAO recommended that the Air Force reopen negotiations with the original bidders. The article did not list all bidders, but the bidders that were mentioned did not include Commodore. In addition, the GAO recommendation is not binding on the Air Force. The contract is for Unix workstations. Honeywell was the bidder that attempted to provide Macs on the contract, running Apple's A/UX. Apparently (not clear from the article) the requirement for "secure multitasking" is met by A/UX, but not by the Mac OS. I am not certain what is meant by "secure multitasking", but it sounds like they mean multi-user with appropriate passwords and permission levels. If that is the standard then AmigaDOS wouldn't meet the requirement either. In any case, if the Macs are being thrown out because of an auxillary OS (one not required for the contract) then it sounds like a crock to me. All they have to do is remove the Mac OS and ship the boxes with only the required Unix support. It sounds to me like a bunch of bureaucrats reading the fine print without understanding what the purpose of the requirement is. DISCLAIMER: I prefer Amiga over Mac any day, but a crock is a crock -- --Steve ------------------------------------------------------------------------- {uunet,sun}!convex!swarren; swarren@convex.COM