Newsgroups: bit.listserv.sas-l
Date:         Fri, 2 Oct 1992 12:47:29 PST
Reply-To:     Thomas M Skinner <Thomas_M_Skinner@CCM.HF.INTEL.COM>
From:         Thomas M Skinner <Thomas_M_Skinner@CCM.HF.INTEL.COM>
Subject:      Re: SAS on UNIX or SAS on PC
Comments: To: Bert_Cave@ccm.hf.intel.com, Ski_Taniguchi@ccm.hf.intel.com,
              SAS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu

          Dear SAS-Ler's,

          And Individually:

          Andee, who requested this info to begin with:

          If I were you, I would go with the IBM RS6000 AIX (Unix)
          platform at this point in time, given the choice of hardware
          available to you (already purchased and paid for).  SI has
          supported this platform with timely releases for some time
          now. They also have repeatedly used this platform for
          demonstrations of new products such as SAS/INSIGHT, SAS/EIS,
          and SAS/GIS at SUGI conferences over the past few years.  It
          is fast, and relatively reliable.  I base my evaluation of
          your situation partly on the assumption that you probably do
          not have OS/2 on your PC, and do not have as an option the
          expenditure of sigificant Kbucks to upgrade your PC to  run
          OS/2 or Windows for that matter.

          To Jim Stukas @Notre Dame:

          I think the argument of DOS based windows versus OS/2 is
          inappropriate in this discussion list in regards to this
          particular inquiry.  Position papers from SI have come out
          favoring one or the other from time to time, and while the
          operating systems themselves are not "proven" especially
          when discussing the advanced and as of yet non-production
          "vapor" versions,  the real issue is how good the SAS
          product is as currently licensed.  This issue will resolve
          itself as SI seeks to make 6.08 production on all platforms
          simultaneously.  As far as NEXTSTEP/486 is concerned, I
          believe SI has an interest in developing a product for this
          OS, however the info I got at SUGI was that they would not
          release this version until there was a proven demand based
          on installed copies.  I personally am impressed with the
          NEXTSTEP OS, and have seen SAS run on the NEXT platform,
          however it was the last of a series of UNIX based
          workstations on which SAS was released, so I wouldn't expect
          the NEXTSTEP/486 version to be forthcoming anytime soon.
          The NEXT station was also conspicuously missing at SUGI this
          year.

          This is apparently a "marketing" decision by SI, based on
          projected revenues etc.  I think you missed the point that
          Bert Cave was trying to make concerning the windows version
          of SAS, that being a major cooperative effort under way to
          develop a Client/Server compatible version of SAS,
          specifically designed around Microsoft/Sybase products based
          on intel architecture.  While this is, in it's most basic
          form, just another SAS/ACCESS product, it is a significant
          new path for information delivery systems.  By the way, the
          porting of various operating systems such as NEXTSTEP to
          intel architecture is a result of significant efforts of
          intel marketing folks, the result of which shall be the
          freedom to choose whichever suits you without the
          consideration of major additional hardware investments.


          Thanks for your input!  And Andee, give my regards to J.K.
          Please don't hesitate to contact me directly, (another
          alumnus of UGA where my SAS experience also began.).

          intel-insider,

          T.M. Skinner
          Sr. SAS Tech. Support
          Intel corporation
          ============================================================
          Internet: Thomas_M_Skinner@CCM.HF.INTEL.COM
              Mail: 1900 Prairie City Road MS FM1-102
                    Folsom, CA 95630
          ============================================================
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU