From: lowell@locus.com (Lowell Morrison)
Subject: Re: OS/2 2.0 Application List 1/2
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 16:31:48 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.151919.19404@itsmail1.hamilton.edu> jmalloy@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Joseph T. Malloy) writes:
>In article <1992Dec14.175431.0247564@locus.com> lowell@locus.com (Lowell Morrison) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec13.211119.10192@itsmail1.hamilton.edu> jmalloy@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Joseph T. Malloy) writes:
>>>In article <1992Dec11.051119.6473@zooid.guild.org> Mark Kovarski <kovarski@zooid.guild.org> writes:
>>>>
>>>>11/23/92                Shipping OS/2 2.0 Applications                
>>>>                               (By Company)
>>>>******************************************************************************

Stuff Deleted....
>>>>Boffin Software                     Dolittle

More stuff deleted
>>For your information Joe, Boffin Software is a real company.  And Yes,
>>it is all vertical market Software.  They are a Big Name in Geologic
>>Software.  You know, like Oil Companies, and Engineering Geological
>>firms.  Yep, the ones who got the first deliveries of the CRAY and
>>pronounced it TOO SLOW...
>>
>>--Lowell Morrison
>>--Uncle Wolf
>>
>
>Thank you!  A real answer!  
>
>I've just posted elsewhere the implied question I had hoped would be
>taken from my wonderful humor (I mean, those *are* funny names, nicht?).
>I'll assume these programs are the best in their class.  How useful is
>it for the net to see this?  IOW, was this an attempt to simply make the
>list of OS/2 apps seem long?  (I mean, honestly, how many PC users need
>to geological modeling versus communications?)  And if the first Cray
>was too slow for 'em, do they really think any PC based system is
>suitable?


Hmmm, I don't own a cray, but I do own several of the Boffin Products.
Not Modeling software, but data reduction for such things as Electric
logs, gravity surveys and the like.  Seeing as I live in a house whose
construction had to be cleared with this software, and drive a car using
a fuel who's production depended in part on this software, I would guess
that it is of great importance to me wether I am a Geologist or not.  Wether
the Software is Vertical Market or not.

The Cray is of course too slow for the job it was intended (Geophysical
Survey [seismic survey] of offshore oil prospects) when you need to do
it in real time.  However, It is fast enough to get you to reshoot an 
area while you are still in the field, instead of next year or the year
after (those remobilization costs can really hurt).  Data Collection for
this type of survey is on the order of Megabytes/second, depending on the
number of systems deployed (typically 4 or 5 at a collection rate of 20-
30 megabytes/sec).

However, most needs for desktop systems are for relitively simply problems.
Soil Compaction ratios and graphs (I wrote such a program a number of 
years ago that ran on an osborne I), soil stablity calculations, Sheer
Strength calculations.  And in the oil industry, calculations of where
that drill really is (they do wander quite a bit)...

And a listing of all available software should include all available software
wether it is vertical market or not.  And certianly it should include software
that is important to the every day man (wether he realizes it is important or
not, [Do you know what package the IRS uses to calculate your taxes <grin>]).

--Lowell Morrison
--Uncle Wolf


Xref: sparky comp.os.os2.advocacy:10345 comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy:3218