From: jeffl@comix.UUCP (Jeff Liebermann)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix.sco
Subject: Re: Xenix considered harmful (was Re: SCO support - a success story)
Summary: Xenix Lives
Date: 5 Sep 92 01:41:48 GMT
Followup-To: comp.unix.xenix.sco
Organization: COmmittee to Maintain Independent Xenix

In article <9209010926.AA25624@dynamix.com> david@dynamix.com (David L Jarvis) writes:
(stuff deleted)
>I've upgraded plenty of 2.3.2 sites to 2.3.4 and never even considered
>Unix, and I know for a FACT that a LOT of very experienced and
>knowledgeable folks in this group (and locally) that have done the same ... 
>perhaps these guys know something you don't?  

My favorite topic.  Unix vs Xenix.  Every one of my customers have
read the advertising literature and asked the same question.  All
of them are interested in the really neat features and wiz bang
knotworking available under Unix.  Then I lay upon them the price.
Not the cost of the runtime, but my labour cost for the "painless"
upgrade.  I've done 4 Xenix to Unix transplants and they were anything
but painless.  There are some nifty scripts to make it easier, but
no way do they cover every possible tweak and tune necessary.  After
getting the estimate, all of a sudden, they start to like Xenix.
Most of them are using it for cash registers, data logging, inventory,
telemarketeering, email, and other mundane character based applications.
They dont really need Unix.

On a similar topic, I recently moved a hospital admin system from
Xenix to Novell 2.2.  It was perfectly reliable and functional
under Xenix.  All it lacked was the artistic colors, graphics,
pop-ups, and productivity software found in abundance under DOS.
Now, we have ram-cram, pop-up and crash, remote modem hassles,
a fairly expensive cost per additional user, and a noticable loss
of reliability and data integrity.  Last week, I was asked what
it would cost to restore the Xenix system for just the accounting
functions.

>> Face it, folks.  The world is moving towards POSIX and other standards
Sure.  Just like we're moving toward ecological destruction,
political chaos, and fiscal insolvency.  Just how much money
does adherence to POSIX save the average retail Xenix user?
While the world moves towards POSIX, I still cant find a bookkeeping
package that is totally reliable.  POSIX doesn't guarantee a
program will work.

>they want a
>solution that just flat out works, and THATS Xenix, the most mature and
Yep.  That's what I get paid to do.  Make it work, keep it working
by itself, and get out.  My Unix customers see me constantly (for
one reason or other).  My Xenix customers see me rarely.

>these damn Unix vendors can't agree on ANYTHING and NO standards are a sure
>thing ... so your "lets all follow the standards blindly" argument bites

  There once was a standards committee,
  Which met in a part of the city.
  So rather than think,
  in went kitchen sink,
  and now we are worse off, a pity.

>right, and the fact that Xenix CONSISTENTLY OUTPERFORMS the bulky, slow,
>overgrown SVR4 kernel is meaningless ... and if the client is NEVER
Yep.  The "real" problem with Unix is that it does too much
for most of my customers.  I guess the price of success is
bloat and pollution.

comix runs SCO Unix 3.2v4.1 with every last patch, sls, app, fix,
and kludge I can find.  I want to know what it will do BEFORE
it gets delivered.  The name of the game is uptime and reliability.  
I rotate the latest vendor supplied cards and drivers through
it constantly.  The suprises are endless.  The latest 3.2v4 development
system is now 4 times slower than the 3.2v2 dev sys.  I guess it's
more "standard" now.  When my one and only developer/customer
found out, he went into hysterics.

Some day, some vendor will produce "Unix Lite" (not Destiny) that's
designed as a business platform.  I'll be the first in line.
This is what I hoped SCO would position Xenix, but didn't.

-- 
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