From: bob@consult.UUCP (Bob Willey CDP)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco
Subject: Re: Xenix considered harmful (was Re: SCO support - a success story)
Date: 7 Sep 92 14:27:46 GMT
Reply-To: bob@consult.UUCP (Bob Willey CDP )
Organization: CCS Enterprises, Inc. - Easton, MD

In article <Bu6Bpp.AG8@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us> mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes:
>
>I'd hardly call Xenix "refined".  "Old", maybe, but old does not
>mature make.
>

Marc, mature is a product that has gone through several layers of upgrades,
patches and enhancements, to gain the status of "mature".  Mature is something
like several of us have said:  We have sites that need to sysadmin done for
years at a time.  We have several sites that we may have to see once a year,
and they have NO sysadmin on staff, we do it for them.  That is mature.

>You obviously haven't ever tried to add more than one or two
>third-party drivers to a Xenix system.  I have.  And then I had to
>

Well, on our internal system we have about 12 third-party drivers, and
some of them quite "aged" and they worked just fine together.  Point?

>Yes, Unix is better than Xenix because it's the same as other
>Unix-based products.  Again, we're coming back the standards argument.
>The primary reason a lot of our customers use Unix on PCs is because
>it interoperates well with their other Unix machines.  Xenix *may* be
>appropriate if interoperability is not and never will be a concern,
>but I don't believe *anyone* can say that in this day and age.
>

Marc, this is just the kind of "attitude" that keeps this discussion 
OFF-TRACK.  Never say "never".  How can you say the you don't 
beleive *anyone* can say that in this day and age.  We have MANY sites
that do not connect to Internet, uunet or anyone else but our internal 
system (for support).  They have NO need and probably will not have any
need in the future.  Take a small business running their accounting 
system and some word processing.  Why would they need the features
to make them "standard".  They don't even want to know what is underneath
the system (Xenix), they just want to know that it works.

Yes, in this "day and age" there are people and businesses who just don't
need the fancy whiz-bang higher-overhead "standards" that you want to 
force down everyone's throat.  You are probably doing some of YOUR
clients a disservice by not carefully considering the options objectively.
That is whay they pay us consultant/resellers for.  Advice and how
the choices will affect their business.  Not "it's the lastest and greatest"
crap.  That does not cut it.

We may not make as much money having to go onsite and keep things running
the "latest and greatest", but our referrals are incredible.  People remember
that we recommended something that "just flat worked!!".  We probably saved
them some money, and gave them a stable mature environment that they did 
not have to worry about.

-- 
>.. Bob Willey, CDP          ..  |  ..  uunet!consult!bob  bob@ccs.com   ..<
>.. CCS Enterprises, Inc.    ..  |  ..   Office: (410) 820-4670          ..<
>.. P.O. Drawer 1690         ..  |  ..      FAX: (410) 476-5261          ..<
>.. Easton, Maryland 21601 ......|......... BBS: (410) 476-5098 ...........<
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.sysv386