Newsgroups: bit.listserv.sas-l
Date:         Tue, 15 Dec 1992 11:14:00 EST
Reply-To:     "A. Barrios" <UABC@UNC.BITNET>
From:         "A. Barrios" <UABC@UNC.BITNET>
Subject:      re:sas 6.08 for Windows and TCP/IP
Comments: To: breed@DAFFY.DUC.AUBURN.EDU
Comments: cc: Sally Muller <UNCSM1@UNC.BITNET>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY:  Comentaries about use of TCP/IP under OS/2 and Unix
REL/PLTF: 6.08 Developers/Windows, OS/2 Beta Release, 6.09 Unix
E-ADDR:   uabc@unc.bitnet
NAME:     Arturo Barrios
PH/ADDR:  919-962-6501  OIT CB#3455, UNC, Chapel Hill NC 27514
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Buenos Dias Bruce,

I can't anwser your question about the 6.08 Windows version,
however the OS/2 Beta version of 6.08 works with the
Communication Manger that come with Os/2 Extended Services and
IBM TCP/IP version 1.2.1.

Also not long ago an "Intel Insider" mentioned some features that
SAS for Windows has, actually SAS 6.08 for OS/2 has all the same
features:

 - SAS/INSIGHT
 - SAS/EIS
 - The new frames technology
 - The SQL query window (developed by Paul Kent and group).

I am not trying to start a plattforms war. Actually there was a
great article in SAS Communications (No.4 Fourth Quarter 1992)
that compared OS/2, Windows, and UNIX. Below are some excerpts
from that article:

 TECHNOLOGY

 Defining a Desktop Strategy

 OS/2 2.0-Worth the Wait?
 For powerful, mission-critical enterprise applications, OS/2 2.0
 may be the desktop platform of choice.

 For large enterprise-critical applications, especially those
 using PCs to access information from the mainframe, or for
 cooperative processing in distributed environments, OS/2 offers a
 stronger, more capable environment.  "OS/2 2.0 is a full-function
 operating system," says Betancourt.  "Windows, on the other hand,
 is still a front end to DOS and is subject to the same
 limitations."

 Carol Rigsbee, project manager in SAS Institute's PC Host group,
 considers multitasking and applications security to be important
 differences in OS/2 2.0 and Windows. (Multitasking allows several
 computing applications to run at the same time on the same
 machine.) Windows supports cooperative multitasking allowing
 applications to run independently of each other. The
 disadvantages of this are twofold. It is possible for one large
 Windows application to monopolize the CPU, and even worse, if a
 Windows application "misbehaves" the entire system may crash.
 Preemptive multitasking and separate address spaces in OS/2 2.0
 solve those problems.

 Intensive SAS applications will run faster under OS/2 than
 Windows, in part because of OS/2's High Performance File System
 (HPFS).  "The old-style DOS file system in Windows was originally
 designed for floppy disks and results in a performance penalty
 when you run intensive I/O operations under Windows," says
 Rigsbee.

 The SAS System for OS/2 2.0 will also support concurrent SAS
 sessions on the same machine (two or three seem to be practical
 for processing speed).  Due to limitations found in Windows, the
 SAS System under Windows 3.1 can support only a single SAS
 session per machine.  In addition, OS/2 2.0 provides the ability
 to run both Windows and DOS applications from OS/2.

 Cassidy's group decided to go with a PC platform, "and we chose
 to go with OS/2, mainly on the recommendation from SAS
 Institute," says Cassidy. "Julie Maddox in the Institute's PC
 Host group and Donna Fulenwider from Technical Support worked
 with SAS Consulting Services Inc. to produce the data
 collection/quality application for us."

 Windows for the Masses
 The popularity of Microsoft Corporation's Windows for DOS is one
 reason for its consideration in a desktop computing strategy.

 For some it's a matter of what is already on the desk.  Vernon
 Ross at the National Science Foundation estimates that 50 percent
 of NSF employees have Windows running on their PCs.

 For stand-alone PC users seeking a migration path from DOS,
 Release 6.08 of the SAS System for Windows 3.1 (currently in
 development) will provide a stronger, more interactive
 applications environment.

 In addition, Windows 3.1 provides some operating environment
 advantages for DOS users such as a graphical user interface, some
 multitasking capabilities (though not as much as UNIX or OS/2
 2.0), and the ability to cut and paste between different Windows
 applications. New function calls in Windows 3.1 support
 enhancements such as TrueType font engines and Object Linking and
 Embedding (OLE), an interprocess communication feature to be
 supported in Release 6.08 of the SAS System that allows objects
 from one application to be embedded in another.

 "For small work groups or stand-alone users employing
 off-the-shelf applications, Windows provides a nice, easy-to-use
 environment," says Betancourt. Also, Windows applications might
 serve as clients for OS/2 servers connected to the mainframe. The
 OS/2 server could handle connections to the mainframe and
 exchange data seamlessly with the Windows clients.

 The Institute also recommends a 32-bit processing environment for
 optimal desktop performance. The performance of the SAS System
 has been significantly enhanced for the 32-bit operating systems
 of UNIX and OS/2 2.0, over 16-bit implementations like DOS or
 Windows.

 UNIX
 Among the operating environments vying for dominance in desktop
 computing are UNIX, Microsoft's Windows, and IBM's new 32-bit
 operating system OS/2 2.0. Each has its champions and detractors,
 and corporations continue to wrestle with the decision of which
 operating system to use for which application.

 UNIX workstations have long dominated the scientific and
 engineering computing environments. Recently, however, UNIX boxes
 have begun working their way into the commercial market as
 organizations recognize the possibilities of running powerful
 applications, such as the SAS System, on UNIX workstations
 without tying up their mainframe.

 UNIX is often considered the best platform for numeric- or
 graphic-intensive applications where the more I/O intensive
 portions of  applications are pre-processed on a host.

 John Sims, in SAS Institute's Technical Support Division, favors
 the UNIX operating system as the desktop platform of choice.
 "UNIX has been around for a long time," says Sims. "It is a
 stable and mature operating system that is debugged. In my
 opinion it is the best platform because relative to the price you
 pay for mainframes and minicomputers, you can get an incredibly
 powerful machine to put on your desk."  In fact, SAS Institute
 has chosen UNIX as its own software development platform.

 Other advantages of UNIX include its system flexibility in terms
 of software and hardware and its built-in networking
 capabilities. "You can get several machines that come ready to be
 connected to a network," says Sims. "With PCs you have to buy
 additional boards and LAN software for networking."

 A UNIX system's flexibility is attributed also to its ability to
 mount remote file systems. Sims says, "If you have a Sun
 workstation in your office and I have a Hewlett-Packard machine
 in my office, I can access your disk transparently and use the
 disk space as if it were on my system. UNIX standards allow our
 different workstations to communicate in that manner."

 UNIX systems will likely focus future development on improving
 ease of use.  "Tools like XWindows are out there for writing
 easy-to-use, friendly applications," says Sims. But, he admits,
 "For a novice computer user, UNIX is still more complicated and
 intimidating than a PC. The advantage, though, is that for people
 coming from a mainframe environment, the power in UNIX is going
 to be comparable."

 Other organizations have chosen to go with personal computers as
 their desktop tools, but decisions still remain.  What about
 Windows and the future Windows NT (New Technology) systems from
 Microsoft? What about OS/2? Which operating system will lay claim
 to your PC?

 The Right Connections for Resource Distribution
 Workstations are best at presenting analyses and results in a
 graphical nature.  While graphic applications can be run on
 mainframes, they are often dealt with more easily in the GUI
 environment of a PC or workstation.

 SAS applications that are I/O intensive (such as processing
 records from SAS files or database files) are most appropriately
 executed on mainframes.

 "Many customers are looking at strategies for distributing
 portions or components of their applications to workstations,"
 says Betancourt. "This still involves a host computer, but people
 are looking at the desktop as a way of using those CPU cycles to
 help alleviate the processing burden on mainframes."

 Three Recommendations from SAS
 Says Betancourt, "You don't want to try to run these desktop
 applications isolated from their original sources of data.
 Connectivity back to some large data repository is key."

 SAS Institute has recommended that users adopt Graphical user
 interfaces (GUIs) and graphical computing environments because
 these are the platforms that the SAS System's new products and
 features can fully exploit for interactivity and ease of use.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU