Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!van-bc!seac!wain From: wain@seac.UUCP (Wain Dobson) Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix Subject: Re: SCO stopping enhancements for Xenix? Message-ID: <5593@seac.UUCP> Date: 6 Mar 90 01:39:35 GMT References: <1314@polari.UUCP> <5118@questar.QUESTAR.MN.ORG> <568@sixhub.UUCP> <1731@lakesys.lakesys.com> <67@rsoft.bc.ca> Organization: SEAC Software Engineering, Vancouver, B.C. Lines: 78 In article <67@rsoft.bc.ca> frank@rsoft.UUCP (Frank I. Reiter) writes: > >If SCO doesn't soon recognize and respond to it's responsibility to support >those people that have been supporting them for years then RSI and its future >customers will be computing on another vendor's Unix. Hmmm. Having supported SCO for years, as well, I can only say that I pleased that we don't have to contended with two products. All our clients are willing to update. What's it to them, anyway? They upgrade their dBase, their Lotuses, their Frameworks, their Words, their accounting software and god only knows what else --- Hell they upgrade their TV's, their steroes, their CD's, their cars, their clothes in accordance with fashion, their golf clubs, their skiis, their boats and yachts. I upgrade by ski boots and skiis every year at a cost (Canadian) substabtially more than it costs to upgrade from Xenix to UNIX. Besides, I'm not too upset that Volvo does not support its 1974 Model any longer. I should be, its only got about 625,000 klicks on it. From what I have read on this net over the last few years, I am amazed that now Xenix is going, people are in a snit. All of us who have used and abused Xenix (more the latter than the former) have probably said, wistfully, to our clients, "wait until UNIX appears and then." Xenix has played its role, just as cpm and dos have. Basically, I have had enough of experiencing the bastardization of a System III product that began on the 8086, moved to the 286, and then moved to a 386. We have three SCO systems, in-house, the 286 version, the 386 version with tcp-ip, streams, etc., and the ODT. The sooner I can replace all of them, except the latter, the happier I will be. I've got controlled versions, patches, updates, ad nausia. If I had to contend with both Xenix and UNIX, I would be more of a basket case than I already am. From a business point of view, I think it would be folly on the part of SCO to even pretend that they could support the two products, well. Why waste the bucks maintaining and pumping up a old horse for a short wind sprint? Put it out to pasture, or shoot it, but get it over with. No? It will only be a vague memory as the gripes and groans about the new product become more widespread and vocal. Basically, I think it is a very smart move. Kind of like the 1989 break up of the Communist Bloc. As the Old Regime crumbles, the process of bringing in the new accelerates, rapidly. But, then history lessons are not important, here. Even with the short comings of SCO UNIX, its is a big jump that the market place will gobble up. With the reputation that SCO has established with respect to the ongoing development and maintenance of their products, I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that the "small business world" will be swung over to either ESIX, Interactive, or Intel. I've inherited clients who are burdened with the uport mess and the early offerings of Bell Tech. If I even suggested that they deal with someone other than SCO I would get my walking papers, quickly. The UNIX game is just warming up, and SCO who is in the drivers seat at the moment, is dumping a potential albatros that could hang them at a later date. I've dealt with SCO for what I consider to be a century, and have had little to complain about except, the current sales rep for our area, whom obviously considers us to be too small to deal with. But, the reps short comings are more than adequately made for with the treatment I get from the rest of the people in sales. So much so, I prefer to deal with them and am not put out by not being able to deal with the rep. Granted, SCO cost large bucks, but then my clients pay me equally large bucks to make sure that they stay stable and on a solid upgrade path. If I told them I felt that SCO was overcharing they would probably look at me as if I had lost it more than I already have. They would also look at me strangely, if I tried to explain to them that it would be better to move to another UNIX because I was upset that SCO dropped Xenix. These are not small systems, I talking about. Even, if these people did consider what I would I would me saying, the first thing that they would ask is whether they would have to retrain their people on a word processor other than Word and on a spreadsheet other than SCO Professional. Any answer to that question would bury me in two seconds, flat. Given that they all know that I would like to bury Word, deeper than SCO seems to be burying Xenix, I would lose some clients, very quickly. -- Wain Dobson, Vancouver, B.C. ...!{uunet,ubc-cs}!van-bc!seac!wain